IFA President to Join Other Farm Leaders in Discussions with EU Agriculture Commissioner
IFA President Tim Cullinan will participate in a conference with his fellow farm leaders across Europe today.
The meeting, which will take place under the auspices of the European farmers’ umbrella group COPA, will be addressed by EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, IFA President Tim Cullinan said it’s anticipated the Commissioner will outline details of a proposed package to support EU markets.
“While the package has yet to be published, our office in Brussels understands that the proposal will acknowledge the difficulties, but it will be decidedly underwhelming in terms of the allocation of funding,” he said.
“The response from the Agriculture Commissioner to date has been abysmal. We look forward to hearing more details tomorrow. However, we are deeply concerned that it’s insufficient to address what is now a serious crisis in the beef sector and a developing one on the dairy side,” he said.
IFA Brussels Director Liam MacHale said IFA has been working closely with other European farm organisations and COPA.
“This is a European-wide crisis effecting every country and every sector. The initial emphasis was on keeping the sector open and food and inputs moving across borders. But the focus now has to be to support markets and farmers, as certain markets have been decimated,” he said.
