The Ulster Farmers’ Union are extremely concerned by the decision taken by the European Commission recently to slash agriculture spending in the 2015 EU draft Budget and re-allocate it.
Ulster Farmers’ Union President Ian Marshall said: “The decision taken by the EU Commission to move €448.5m out of its CAP Budget to make payments elsewhere under other non-agricultural headings is totally unacceptable. The Commission is of the view that the CAP Crisis Reserve of €433million, which is sourced through the cuts to direct payments by financial discipline, will be enough to cover the crisis measures. Of the €433million available, €344million has already been assigned to offset the effects of the Russian food import ban leaving only €88.7million for any further market measures under the CAPs ‘Crisis Reserve’. However, if the market situation worsens and crisis expenditure increases we are potentially looking at a further cut in CAP Direct Payments as more funding will be required.
“It is completely unacceptable that the farming community should have to pay twice for the diplomatic crisis with Russia through negative market effects and reduced budget expenditure. The measures that have been put in place so far by the EU Commission to help alleviate pressure on producers hit by this embargo have been encouraging but it would be totally irresponsible of the EU Commission to consider making further cuts to direct payments now when farmers need all the help they can get.”
The UFU will continue to monitor this situation closely and is working with COPA to raise this issue with our Governments and MEPs.
