Two Ministers were in Brussels yesterday to voice Ireland's concerns about any major overhaul of the Common Agricultural Policy.
While the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, was denouncing the Fischler reforms, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, accepted a negotiating document for the world trade talks which agreed to deep cuts in EU agriculture supports.
This document, which was sent to the WTO, proposed a 45 per cent cut in agricultural export subsidies, a 55 per cent reduction in aid for agricultural products and an average reduction of 36 per cent on customs duties.
The cuts were said to be conditional on the adoption of equivalent moves by the United States. While France and Ireland were initially wary, they "rallied to the majority approval after obtaining guarantees and explanations".
Meanwhile, at the first meeting of farm ministers since Dr Franz Fischlers's announcement last week, Mr Walsh joined the grouping known as Friends of Farming in the council to formally reject the commissioner's package. The group, led by France, has the backing of at least five other states, including Ireland, Spain and Portugal.
In his formal rejection speech, Mr Walsh told his council colleagues the Fischler reforms were unnecessary and not in accordance with stated EU policy objectives in relation to the European model of agriculture.
He said the reforms were internally contradictory, ill-timed and would cost the Union money it did not have.
"I see no reason, internal or external, for the EU to embark on any significant reform at this time, still less to undertake the most fundamental reform since the CAP was established," he said.
"I am not prepared to contemplate the damage to the livelihoods of Irish farm families and the economic and social health of Irish rural areas implicit in these proposals. I see no course of action other than to reject them."
He said the cuts would impact more severely on Ireland than on any other member-state; the proposal to cut direct payments to farmers receiving over €5,000 per annum in the "modulation" proposal could not be justified.
Dealing with the world trade issue, Mr Walsh said he doubted whether the "decoupling" proposal would qualify the payments being made as not trade distorting.
He said the draft EU council regulations establishing common rules for direct-support schemes required a farmer to have "minimum livestock stocking rates or/and appropriate regimes".
Mr Walsh commented: "We should be sure we know where we are going in the case of decoupling before we consider setting out on the journey."
The main farm organisations expressed general satisfaction with the stand made by Mr Walsh at the council meeting.
Mr Pat O'Rourke, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, said he was still convinced that, if imposed, the Fischler proposals would undermine farm incomes by 45 per cent.
The president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr John Dillon, said Mr Walsh must continue to press for amendments to the proposals. However, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association, Mr Charlie Reilly, said Mr Walsh's comments were at complete variance with reports published last week which showed sheep and cattle farmers would do disproportionately well from the proposal to decouple payments from production.
"Either the Minister is choosing to ignore the report's findings completely or is completely out of touch with what Irish cattle and sheep farmers have been calling for over the last number of years."
The negotiations are expected to last until the middle of the year.