The next meeting of the European Agriculture and Fisheries Council, which brings together the agriculture ministers from the EU’s member states, is scheduled to take place on April 27 and 28.
It will be the first official meeting of European agriculture ministers since March 25, in which Michael Creed, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, called on the EU to deploy “the full range of supports available” for the agri-food sector.
“The agri-food and fisheries sectors have a central role to play in protecting the health and well-being of citizens in the context of Covid-19,” Minister Creed stressed at the time.
In order to keep food supplies moving, and to support this vital aspect of our rural and coastal economies, significant supports will be needed at an early stage.
However, several farm organisations here have found the EU’s response thus far to be lacking.
Yesterday, Wednesday, April 8, Edmond Phelan, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), criticised the EU for what he called its “lack of urgent and decisive Covid-19 intervention”.
“There is nowhere near enough urgency to deal with the massive disruption caused in particular to the agri-food sector,” Phelan argued.
ICMSA president Pat McCormack said that any delay or “piecemeal” response would put at risk “the food security of the EU and the very future of the agri-food sector”.
He claimed that delay in acting as a collective “risked the renationalisation of agriculture policy” with “very severe consequences” for farmers across the EU.
It would also raise questions about the EU’s ability to act in unison at times of crisis, McCormack added.