Ciolos favours farm pay change

THE person most likely to be the next EU Agriculture Commissioner has said he favours changing the single farm payment regime, away from the historic-based payment system used in Ireland.

Currently the Romanian Agriculture Minister, Dacian Ciolos, told MEPs he would fight to maintain the current level of funding for the new CAP budget due to be negotiated next year.

“I’m a reformer and reform does not mean reducing financial support, but adapting it to tackle the new challenges,” he told MEPs during a three-hour hearing on his suitability for the post.

He said he believed direct payments should ensure a minimum level of income for European farmers, but added the reform should re-balance the way aid is distributed among regions, farmers and member states.

However, Mr Ciolos refused to be drawn on what this meant, by MEPs who sit on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee.

Ireland East MEP Máiréad McGuinness pointed out that this will mean a change to the way farm payments are calculated for Irish farmers, and she called on Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to say how he would fight this proposed change.

“Minister Smith told farmers he is not in favour of a flat rate Single Farm Payment under any circumstances, but Commissioner disignate Dacian Ciolos made it clear the regime will be subject to change,” she said. “He flatly rejected the continuation of the current historic-based payment system and said that new criteria are needed for the distribution of direct payments,” she said.

Ms McGuinness pointed out that he also stressed the need for a rebalancing of aid between farmers, regions and member states, but did not outline what the new criteria would be.

Mr Ciolos told the hearing he believed that a structural policy was needed to modernise small farms and develop opportunities in local markets where there is high demand for local produce. He acknowledged the current system of direct payments favoured the big more than the small farm, and this needed to be changed, recognising small farms can be competitive under specific circumstances.