The Farmers’ Alliance “fully supports” discussions which are currently underway to form a European farming alliance, party co-founder Helen O’Sullivan has said.
The Farmers’ Alliance party has recently joined other European farming groups in Brussels to “fight back on anti-farming EU policies”.
Farmers gathered to demonstrate outside the European Parliament to highlight how they feel their industry is on the “cusp of obliteration” due to the EU’s “green transition”.
One of the key objectives of the coalition is to counter the “undue influence” of the EU’s green lobby, and to highlight the importance of a thriving agri-sector for maintaining food security.
Farmers’ Alliance
Despite differences within countries, she said that farmers from across Europe “suffer” from the EU’s “overzealous” green policies and “disinterest” in farmers and rural communities.
The party met with farming bodies from Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain and agreed that together their voice would be “stronger” in Europe, she said.
“From fertiliser restrictions to demands to return productive land back to nature and increasing imported produce from non-EU countries to undercut European farmers.
“On top of this, the huge administrative burden of demonstrating compliance with environmental regulations and the decrees of the EU are destroying the rural way of life,” she said.
The demonstration followed protests in Germany and France which have brought thousands to the streets and gained widespread public support.
O’Sullivan said there is “too much red tape” coming from the EU. If the Mercosur deal does go through, she said 99,000t of tariff-free beef would flood the EU.
“So what about the carbon footprint of that? Ireland is the most sustainable country in the whole world to produce food. We should be made the food island of Europe,” she said.