10th January, 2013
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association is calling for more urgency on the issue of securing a deal on the overall EU Budget.
As the president of the European Commission and the 26 commissioners attend the official launch event of the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU in Dublin, ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin urged Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Cabinet to press for progress on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) which must be agreed before any deal can done on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Mr Gilmartin said, “It was hugely disappointing that the Budget talks broke down in late November last year without agreement. The ideal scenario would be to finalise the CAP deal before the end of Ireland’s presidency – for this to happen, we need to see an EU budget in place very soon.”
“Because the CAP is so important to the Irish economy and to Irish farmers, it must be an absolute priority for the Government to push for agreement on the MFF as early as possible in the coming months,” Mr Gilmartin concluded.
