Hansen 'glad that Ireland is in the driving seat' as EU budget talks continue
The European Commissioner for Agriculture has said he is "glad that Ireland is in the driving seat" as EU budget discussions take place.
Christophe Hansen said he is "quite confident" that Ireland will "save the furniture when it comes to the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) discussion" for 2028-2034.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon said progress on the MFF will be a priority during the presidency.
Minister Heydon and Christophe Hansen were responding to questions following the first meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AgriFish) under the Irish EU presidency on Monday (July 13),.
Hansen said: "To those who are saying that the agriculture policy [Common Agricultural Policy] is a policy of the past, then I would ask them - what are you going to eat in the future?
"I think they need as well to study a little bit more the history because the European continent was not self-sufficient at its foundation of the Common Agricultural Policy.
He said "it is not the agriculture policy that is too expensive, it is its absence that would be way more expensive", referencing the need for healthy diets.
Hansen on CAP
"I think we best produce it [healthy food] domestically as well because here we have the conditions and the standards, how products are produced under control," Hansen continued.
"We don't want to draw interdependencies that we have with so many other products."
He added: "Even if some people are a little bit looking down on the CAP, I think we need to take it further and not destroy it".
He said the MFF and CAP funding are "driving investment in agriculture to become more productive and more sustainable at the same time".
"This helps as well with the triangle [of] sustainability, which needs to be economic, but as well social, and it needs as well to be environmental," Commissioner Hansen said.
"Because one without the other is not working."
EU presidency
Protected geographical indicators (PGIs) for agricultural exports were one of the key topics discussed at the AgriFish Council meeting this week, chaired by Minister Heydon.
Speaking about PGIs, Minister Heydon said member states have "fought hard to go through a process to get their product recognised and for very good reason".
He said PGI products are a "unique selling point that deliver the most value".
"We see this in Ireland with our Irish grass-fed beef, with our Irish whiskey," he said.
