Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that early discussions over the size of the European Union budget, set to be completed by the end of this year, have been “quite challenging and difficult”. He said that some countries who are net contributors to the EU feel the budget is already too high.
He said negotiations over the allocation to the Common Agricultural Policy also faced challenges from countries which want the budget to cover “other elements of activity”.
“The first challenge will be to land on an overall sum that will be available for the next seven years, and the next issue then will be the split in how that money is allocated to different sectors.”
The Taoiseach added that Ireland had advocated strongly for an increased CAP allocation and a simplification of how it is administered.
He warned that the CAP is “not where we want it to be” at the moment, but that the Irish government is “looking at mechanisms to make sure that farmers benefit, at least, to the same degree as they did in the past”.
SHARING OPTIONS