An Irish MEP has welcomed the votes in the European Parliament this week on common market rules for agri-food and simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Ciaran Mullooly called the votes in the plenary (full) session of the parliament a "show of solidarity with farmers" in Ireland and across the EU.

He said the vote on the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation will "strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain", while the vote on CAP rules will "simplify their application for family farms".

"This is the first step in the process of further negotiations with the European Commission and in addressing the disadvantages that primary producers face as price takers rather than price makers," Mullooly said.

He said that the two votes in the parliament "mark the beginning of a broader effort to rebalance the supply chain, with the aim of ensuring that a fairer share of the final product price flows back to farmers".

On the CAP vote specifically, he said: "This is a clear sign that the EU is moving in the right direction to reduce the unnecessary bureaucracy that family farms face on daily basis. I welcome this approach by the commission."

However, the Independent Ireland MEP said he was disappointed that a vote to suspend the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement was rejected by parliament.

"I will continue to work with fellow MEPs to highlights the flaws of this trade agreement and its potential negative impact on EU and in particular, Irish farms," Mullooly said.

The MEP welcomed the parliament's decision to adopt an amendment from a French MEP to ban the use of "misleading" references to traditional meat products for plant-derived products, such as "veggie burger".

Mullooly said he hoped that the development will also be extended to the dairy sector and the use of the word "milk" to describe what he called "plant-based juice".