The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Franz Fischler, yesterday challenged the US to show it was not using food aid as a form of export subsidy.
At a press conference in Dublin with the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, Dr Fischler said the US was using a lot of money on food aid and he believed the system was a form of export subsidy.
Dr Fischler, who was flying to Canada for a meeting with 25 World Trade Organisation members to prepare for the Cancun, Mexico negotiations on agriculture, ruled out any further concessions on CAP reform.
The Commissioner, who will lead the EU negotiations on agriculture when the round begins in September, repeated the assurance that European farmers could not be expected to "pay twice", having reformed the CAP. He said there had been a positive international response from outside the EU, particularly from New Zealand.
On the package itself, Dr Fischler said the greatest criticism had come from the dairy sector during his short visit here. "What the reform has done is to provoke change in the dairy sector and this will be a good thing."
He said that while some countries may opt for the partial decoupling of direct payments from animal and cereal production, they should be aware that the more schemes that were decoupled, the more money would be available to farmers. "An OECD report has found that decoupling all the schemes will double the money which will be available to farmers," he said.
Earlier yesterday, the Commissioner met the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA), which complained that calf and weanling producers would lose under the decoupling arrangements.
ICMSA president Mr Pat O'Rourke said the Commissioner agreed to review the income loss which calf producers could suffer and to have his officials look at market and economic data the organisation would submit.
The Commissioner also heard complaints from the young farmers' organisation, Macra na Feirme, whose president, Mr Thomas Honner, warned there was a danger the new CAP deal could become a retirement package for older farmers with substantial amounts of entitlements going to people who were not farming in any serious way.
"These reforms will suit the 45 per cent of farmers who are over the age of 55 who may have no successor and see the new system as a mechanism to drastically reduce production while retaining entitlements," he said.
The Commissioner also met the only farm group which fully supported his reform package, the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association, and thanked it for its support and constructive contribution to the debate.
ICSA president Mr John Deegan impressed on Dr Fischler the need to ensure the maximum number of member-states chooses the option to fully decouple supports. "The gains that have been made during the recent CAP deal are now dependent on a successful WTO round. Now is the time to go on the offensive against the USA in the WTO talks. The USA has never been as vulnerable in its position now that the EU has its own house in order following the recent CAP deal," he said.
From Monday, Irish Times journalists will examine the state of Irish agriculture in the aftermath of Commissioner Fischler's reform of CAP. In the first part of a three-day series, Agriculture Correspondent Seán MacConnell will look at the challenges facing Irish farmers as EU subsidies are reduced, while Liam Reid will examine if organic farming has a future in Ireland.