Eurolink News

Farmers, Lisbon and the WTO: the fateful triangle (15/5/08)

May 14, 2008 at 10:35 pm Leave a comment

Farmers make up some four per cent of the Irish electorate, and their vote could prove a decisive factor in the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum. At the moment, the country’s main farm groups are advocating a ‘No’ vote in protest at the prospect of an unfavourable deal at the World Trade Organisation talks in Geneva later this month. However, the emergence of any sort of deal from the WTO negotiations is far from certain, and it is conceivable that farmers could yet swing back to their original pro-Lisbon stance.
In January of this year, President of the Irish Farmers’ Association Padraig Walsh spoke in support of the treaty, claiming farmers are best represented ‘at the heart of Europe, not as reluctant bystanders.’ Within a few months, the IFA had assumed the polar opposite position. In April, 10,000 farmers from across the State demonstrated in Dublin against proposals by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to cut import tariffs. They claim a Mandelson-led WTO deal would decimate the Irish beef and dairy industries and the wider rural economy, with 50,000 jobs being lost in the food and services industry and a further 50,000 farmers being put out of business. Padraig Walsh summed up the farmers’ position when he told the government, ‘Don’t sell us out at the WTO talks in Geneva and expect us to do your bidding in the referendum.’
Since the farmers’ u-turn, Irish and EU politicians promoting the Lisbon Treaty have sought to convince farmers that there’s no connection between Lisbon and the WTO, and to warn of a ‘chilly response’ in Europe should the treaty be rejected. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, ‘Nothing in the treaty changes WTO negotiations, and the EU stance in WTO negotiations will depend on the unanimous decisions of member states.’ Speaking in Carlow this week, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness put the onus on the government to ‘allay the fears of farmers and give a commitment that it will not sign up to a damaging WTO deal’. She said a ‘Yes’ vote would reaffirm the EU’s commitment to the Common Agricultural Policy, due for renewal in 2013. Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward has also stressed the importance of staying on the right side of the CAP, which is giving Irish farmers some €1.6 billion a year in direct payments. ‘A “No” vote will only weaken Ireland’s negotiating position,’ he warned.
During the next month, it will become clear if any deal will result from the complex WTO negotiations. It will be interesting to see, depending on the outcome from Geneva, whether or not Irish farmers are for turning on Lisbon.

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