This is a subscriber-only article
While there are some structures in place to deal with a market crisis caused by Brexit, Irish MEP Matt Carthy has said that emergency support measures must be outlined immediately.
“Many crisis management tools require disruption across EU markets, not just in one, and we know from experience of the dairy crisis from 2014-2016 that many of these tools take months to activate, and longer even after that to actually arrive in farmers’ pockets.
"By the time potential support is received, severe damage has already happened at farm level,” Carthy said.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture has assured Irish farmers that the European Commission will protect them from the impact of UK tariffs.
However, Matt Carthy says he has asked Hogan if the Commission has already launched preliminary studies on the adverse impact of Brexit on the Irish agriculture sector.
“It is still too soon to say what specific form any EU assistance could take, not least as the circumstances in which the UK will leave the EU are not yet known nor what the exact economic consequences of the departure will be,” was the answer from Commissioner Hogan on behalf of the EU Commission.
Incredible
“It is incredible that we are now days away from a potential no-deal Brexit and Commissioner Hogan is still saying it is too soon to make a call on what market support measures will be at Ireland’s disposal,” Carthy said.
“The Irish Government needs to up its game; they need to spell out to the commission that a wait-and-see approach is not good enough. They need to force the Commission to come forward with genuine options in the nightmare scenario of a no-deal Brexit.”
SHARING OPTIONS: