IFA in first ever call for veto

By Matt Dempsey

John Foley sowing 'Sebastian' malting barley at Glen Lodge, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow.

Amid growing fears that agriculture may be sacrificed as part of behind the scenes moves to secure a WTO agreement, the IFA has, for the first time in 35 years of EU membership, called on the Irish Government to use its veto.

The use of a veto by a member state is the ultimate safeguard against a vital national interest being threatened by EU action.

For the Irish Government, the position is further complicated by the threat to the Lisbon Treaty, implicit from IFA president Padraig Walshe this week. He stated: "It would be unrealistic to expect the farming community and rural people to vote for a treaty and take a decision against their own interests.''

The WTO discussions are heading toward a climax, with a Ministerial meeting being pencilled in for mid-April and a growing realisation that US President George Bush may possibly agree to deal without any reference to the Houses of Congress.

He could then leave his successor to pick up the pieces, but Europe would be stuck with whatever accord is reached.

The IFA and Copa Cogeca - the umbrella body for farm organisations and co-ops in the EU - are reacting with alarm to the latest proposals drawn up by the chairman of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Committee, New Zealander Crawford Falconer.

The Commission's own calculations show that if the Falconer package is accepted - as Peter Mandelson is clearly advocating - European agriculture will bear losses of €40 billion. The effects would be most serious in beef where the price potentially would be halved to approximately 60p a lb - €1.60 a kg.

Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs on Tuesday, Padraig Walshe warned that Mandelson was the only 'negative' when it came to getting a 'yes' vote from Irish farmers on the Lisbon Treaty.

He said: "I want to be frank. It would be unrealistic to expect the farming community and rural people to vote for an institutional treaty when a highly placed member of the European Commission, with a solemn duty to represent our interests, is planning the destruction and demise of the European family farm structure.''.

"It would be unreasonable to expect farmers to take a decision against their own interests,'' he added.

He described it as 'indefensible' that the EU seems to be on the verge of unwinding the CAP and, thereby, abandon food security for Europe's 500 million consumers, at a time when global food commodity markets are changing dramatically.