THE GOVERNMENT has told the EU that a radical change to the common agricultural policy (CAP)would risk undermining Europe's security of food supply.
It has also ruled out accepting any proposal for a Europe-wide tax to pay for the EU in a review of the union's budget, which will be launched by EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite at a conference in Brussels later this week.
"As a matter of principle, Ireland is opposed to an 'EU tax'. Furthermore, it is not clear how such a tax would be equitable," says the Government in a submission to the commission on the proposed reforms, which has been obtained by The Irish Times.
The Government supports the current system of financing for the EU budget, which is mainly based on states paying money into a central pot in proportion to their national incomes. It also calls for a gradual evolution of the EU budget expenditure rather than radical change and opposes making any change to the union's budget before 2013.
"The 2007-2013 financial framework was carefully crafted and the outcome of the current review can only be reflected in the post-2013 framework," it says. "Changes to the post-2013 framework should be gradual in nature so as to provide continuity."
The budget is financed by member states, which pay about €130 billion per year into a common pot to finance the union's activities and policies. Payments to farmers and other agricultural programmes take up about 40 per cent of the budget - a policy that is strongly opposed in several member states such as Britain and Sweden.
When the last EU budget was negotiated in December 2005, then British prime minister Tony Blair insisted that a major review of the union's budget should be carried out in 2009, which could potentially lead to changes even within the 2007-2013 programme period.
Britain argues the EU should focus more of its spending on innovation and knowledge-based activities rather than focusing on propping up the agricultural sector.
But any change to the budget pre-2013 requires unanimous backing from EU states, and staunch opposition from agricultural states such as Ireland and France makes this very unlikely.
The most controversial element in the budget review is how to reform agricultural spending post-2013 and whether direct subsidy payments to farmers and price-support mechanisms should be phased out altogether, moderated or retained.
The largest per capita beneficiaries from the CAP are Ireland and Greece, with Irish farmers receiving about €1.7 billion every year in EU payments. So it is hardly surprising that the Government's submission to the commission strongly defends the CAP system and warns against making any radical changes post-2013.
"There has been a reduction in the levels of self-sufficiency for almost all food commodities in the EU. The resultant vulnerability has been revealed in recent months as global demand for commodities has led a sharp increase in food prices in the EU and concerns about security of supply," says the Government budget paper.
"Clearly, the agrifood sector has an increasingly important role, in the more turbulent world market, in ensuring a secure supply of high-quality food for future generations." The paper argues that support for the EU model of agriculture is more valid than ever and suggests that the union's budget could be used to help the agricultural sector cope with the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Government submission: key points
Key points in Government submission on EU budget:
• The need for food security warrants only gradual change - the review should lead to gradual evolution of EU budget spending rather than radical changes;
• Policies that implement EU climate and energy objectives should be supported;
• Consideration should be given to phasing out budget rebates;
• Any changes to the EU budget should not take effect until after 2013;
• A Europe-wide tax to finance EU activities would be unacceptable for Ireland.