MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan said it is "time to stop and listen to the voices that have expressed concern" over the direction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The MEP spoke following a "tense" Shadows meeting in Strasbourg last week on the National Regional and Partnership Plan (NRPP).

He said that ever since the publication of the NRPP proposal last summer, consistent concerns have been raised about the CAP coming under the umbrella of the NRPP. 

CAP

"Since its inception 60 years ago CAP has been the cornerstone of agricultural development giving stability and certainty to farmers," Flanagan said.

"The legal basis for CAP has always been a standalone regulation and a separate budget line in the EU’s seven-year funding cycle."

In the new structure the NRPP is foreseen as an overarching regulation pooling the resources and setting out the objectives and governance of cohesion policy, the European Rural Development Fund and the CAP, Flanagan said. 

"Following a storm of early protests at the pooling of resources the budget assigned to CAP is to be ringfenced within the NRPP overall envelope," the MEP said.

"While CAP will have its own regulation setting out some of the detail it will still be subservient to the NRPP regulation.

Flanagan said it is "important to understand what is meant by the 'Common' Agricultural Policy".

"It is a pan-European policy - while member states have flexibility to tailor measures to national circumstances, the broad swathe of rules are common to all across the EU to ensure a level playing field," the MEP continued.

"Equally important is the financial stability that an independent CAP gives to farmers.

"The EU operates as a fixed-term parliament, every five years there is an election.

"The EU also operates on a seven-year funding cycle known as the Multi-Financial Framework - while it has its flaws, this structure gives predictability and certainty to farmers. 

"It cannot be replaced by renationalising the policy where CAP will be competing with other sectors for funding and be subject to short-term objectives for political gain by national governments."

Flanagan said it is "imperative" that "Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and independent MEPs in the EPP and RE groups apply pressure within their own groups to ensure that they join with the majority in the AGRI committee to safeguard and protect the position that the CAP remains a standalone properly-funded EU policy".

"In the face of increasing worldwide political uncertainty, now is not the time to be dismantling and undermining one of the most long-standing and successful EU policies, that has underpinned our most basic need, that we have a stable supply of food," Flanagan added.

INHFA

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) president has also urged Irish MEPs and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to back the proposals for agricultural policy to retain its own governance through national CAP plans.

"The current EU Commission proposals aims to bring CAP along with cohesion and other major spending areas together under one national plan per country as part of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the 2028 to 2034 period," Pheilim Molloy said.

"This could see CAP funding undermined as it competes with other national and EU priorities and this is a concern we have expressed to commission officials, our MEPs and with Oireachtas members here in Ireland," he said.

Molloy said the proposal made by members of the parliament’s AGRI committee is "a massive step in protecting CAP funding and its overall objectives".

"If achieved will be much stronger than the current commission proposals that will provide for a basic ring-fenced budget of €300 billion with additional funding to come from the wider fund," he said.