Tipperary farming: ICSA president criticises proposed CAP cuts

ICSA president Edmond Phelan has reacted with dismay at the direction of talks regarding the EU budget, which he slammed as “totally unacceptable, particularly as a massive 14% cut to the CAP is proposed even though there are much bigger asks being imposed on farmers in terms of climate change in particular.”

The proposal from the outgoing EU Commission in 2018 for a budget equating to 1.11% of GNI was bad enough as it implied a 5% cut in the CAP. This latest proposal from EU Council head Charles Michel is a reduction to 1.074%. This equates to 14% cut in the overall CAP with Pillar 1 down 10% and Pillar 2 down a massive 25%, he said.

“ICSA has called on the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to resist this, saying it is entirely unacceptable that farmers will be asked to do a lot more on climate change which will cost them money but the budget to support the CAP could be cut so severely.

"We also need a strong signal from the EU Parliament that it will not support this budget proposal. The EU Parliament’s initial position was for a budget equating to 1.3% of GNI which is more in line with the increased ambition for EU policies. You can’t have more ambition on issues like climate change and expect farmers to be able to implement it when you are directly cutting their CAP funding by 14%," said Mr Phelan.