The Leinster MEP, Avril Doyle yesterday accused the EU Commissioner, Dr Fischler of "living dangerously" in relation to the reforms he was proposing in the Common Agricultural Policy.
Speaking in the European Parliament, Ms Doyle said there were those who would say he was living recklessly in relation to the reforms in relation to the World Trade talks. She said that the decoupling proposal was coming with "a health warning" to Ireland where it would collapse the price of young cattle.
"I am not convinced, despite the Commissioner's protestations that we have played our WTO card wisely," she said.
In the last world trade agreement, Europe had reformed in a principled way and had given market access guarantees to the US. In return we got no guarantees from the US which used September 11th to introduce the biggest increase in domestic supports in decades.
She said Dr Fischler's proposals on modulation were "robbing poor Peter to pay Paul" and were in her mind a reverse Robin Hood policy which was at best perverse. It was illogical to do this in dairying and at the same time to propose decoupling. She said that having listened to the debate, many countries had many different problems with the package but Dr Fischler had a duty of care to Europe's farmers and to a sustainable future for farming in the EU, the largest agricultural producer in the world and the largest economy in the world.
The Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Hyland said it was a tragedy the debate was taking place because the mid term review went far beyond what was expected. "As I see it the single biggest issue is the preservation of stability and security of farm incomes. This is something that transcends any national or sectoral interests which may exist," he said. Once this package had been agreed, said Mr Hyland, there were big battles to be fought in the World Trade Organisation and there the Commission must vigorously defend the vital interest of European Agriculture in that forum.
The debate, which continues later today, was dominated by complaints from many of the MEPs about the damage which would be caused especially in disadvantaged areas, by the package.
However, there were few compromise proposals put forward other than partial decoupling in some of the production sectors in the 400 amendments proposed by the Parliament's agriculture committee.