Concern grows over WTO talks
FFA chief hits out at policy of EU negotiators
Published Date:
16 April 2008
By Richard Halloran
Farmers for Action (FFA) is the latest organisation to air its concerns about the agenda set in train by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the dangers implicit for local agriculture in a trade deal that could be reached within the next six weeks.
"It seems that a policy to deliver cheap food at any cost is the driving force behind the talks now taking place," FFA spokesman William Taylor told Farming Life.
"And the organisations driving this agenda forward include the UK government and the European Commission.
He added: "It is extremely significant that Gordon Brown uses every opportunity to highlight the issue of food inflation at the present time. The reality is that food has never represented better value to the local consumer."
William Taylor went on to point out that the current WTO proposals sound the death knell for farming in Northern Ireland.
"If EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson signs off on the WTO proposals currently on the table, cheap food will flood into Europe," he stressed.
"In reality farmers need more for their produce in order to remain viable. Beef producers, a case in point, need at least an extra 30 to 40 pence a kilo for their stock now, simply to compensate for the rise in feed costs they have incurred since Christmas."
The FFA representative also believes that the EU Commission is about to concede to requests from the USA and Canada to allow hormone treated beef into Europe.
"If true, this will drive a coach and horse through the current EU regulations which prohibit entirelythe use of these growth promoters," he concluded.
Meanwhile, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his intervention at the International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting recently in Washington, urged financial leaders to push "now" for the conclusion of the Doha trade round.
"I am completely convinced that we have it within our means, politically and technically, to finish the Doha round this year," he said.
"To do so, the first step we need is for WTO member governments to agree at Ministerial level by the end of May on the framework for cutting agricultural tariffs, agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs."
Meanwhile, the Republic's Farming Minister Mary Coughlan has called for realism in WTO talks and for them to recognise of the important role agricuture has within the EU.
Speaking in Luxembourg this week, Ms Coughlan said that while Ireland, like most Member States, is committed to the WTO multilateral trading system, the European Union should not be bounced into concluding a deal which is unbalanced and does not respect the important role of agriculture within the EU or the changed circumstances which prevail in relation to global food shortages and food security.
"We need to inject some realism into the discussions. We cannot allow European agriculture to be sacrificed for the sake of an unbalanced deal" the Minister said.
Outlining the changed circumstances in relation to food scarcity and food security the Minister said that mounting concerns in Europe and the world on these issues makes the CAP more important than ever. She said the EU must safe-guard its production base so that it can meet the future demand of its population for food, feed and bioenergy.
The full article contains 544 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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Last Updated:
16 April 2008 8:23 AM
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Source:
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Location:
belfast