Andrew Brown has a mixed 250Ha farm in the south of Rutland with 60% arable and 40% permanent pasture, 200 breeding sheep and 100 beef cattle.
On a very cold but sunny Sunday I travelled down to St Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar to Brussels. It was the second week of the Institute of Agricultural Management Leadership Development course and as a first time traveller on Eurostar I was impressed by the speed and efficiency with which we arrive in the capitol of Europe.
After checking in to our hotel and dinner the 12 delegates duly found a bar and I met up with an old university friend who now lives here in Brussels. The next morning was spent at the BAB office which is basically the NFU’s HQ in Europe.
Maeve Whyte gave us a very comprehensive précis of how the whole system of the parliament works, which certainly opened my eyes to the function of the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the MEPs. We are lucky to have someone of this calibre representing members at this level.
The Lisbon Treaty was also explained and can be summed up by saying that MEPs now have a role in the way legislation is drawn up. One interesting fact is that there are over 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels and there are over 2,000 laws which affect farmers on the European Statute. It may seem like it is all too much central control and ridiculous laws are sent to try our patience, but let’s not forget that most of our money comes from the EU and we would have to have most of the laws anyway even if we were not members.
Most other non-EU countries have missions here and the US lady told us that their government only give $5.5 billion in direct aid to farmers, much less than the EU, but they support their farmers in other ways by subsidising things like inputs, which rather distorts the picture. The US does not see the EU as its market place and the impression I got was they think we are an irritation in things like the WTO talks.
Other speakers from a range of countries such as Hungary, Greece, Italy and France all gave the benefit of their extensive knowledge. We ought to point out to anyone who will listen that the CAP costs 50 billion euros which is 0.43% of the EU GDP. A small amount for what is delivered. This amounts to each citizen paying around 60p/day to have supermarkets filled with safe nutritious food produced to the highest standards of welfare and the environment.
With the reforms of 2013 on the horizon I was very glad to learn that the UK Treasury very rarely gets its own way in Brussels and with a pro farming commissioner from Romania they may not be as painful as we had feared, but only time will tell. The process of reform has already begun and we must keep up the pressure to get the best deal for UK farmers. I was hoping to jump on the gravy train while I am here. It hasn’t pulled in yet, but I live in hope!
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