Protest to take place in Dublin next week on CAP budget

Agriland

16-05-2025

A protest will take place in Dublin next week to highlight what farm organisations say is a threat to the EU budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The 'flash action' is being organised by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), and is set to take place at the offices of the European Commission's representation to Ireland.
The IFA said it wants to 'warn the commission against stripping away the CAP budget in favour of a single fund approach'.
The commission is understood to be planning a radical overhaul to the EU budget – the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – as part of which the commission is planning to merge its various funding programmes into a smaller number of funds, which would be allocated all together to member states.
Member states would then outline how they plan to use the funding, which the commission would then approve.
This could not only see the merging of funding for both pillars of CAP, but potentially also the end of ringfenced funding for CAP.
The protest next week will coincide with a flash action organised by EU farming organisation Copa Cogeca in Brussels to highlight the importance of the CAP budget. Similar protests will take place in other EU countries at the same time.
The commission is holding a budget conference in Brussels on the day, and the action is timed to happen when the conference is underway. IFA president Francie Gorman will attend the flash action in Brussels in his capacity as vice-president of Copa.
He said that it is 'vital that a strong message is sent to the commission that the funding model and structure of the CAP is critical for the development of the farming and food sector in Ireland'.
'Everybody is aware that the geopolitical landscape is changing, but food security has to remain at the core of what the commission does,' Gorman said.
'All the signs are that the commission is still hell-bent on a single fund structure which, if approved, would be the beginning of the end of CAP as we know it. This approach will undermine the security CAP brings to millions of farm families around Europe,' he added.
The protest in Dublin will be led by IFA deputy president Alice Doyle and ICOS president Edward Carr.
Copa Cogeca is a joint group representing EU farm organisations and agricultural co-operatives. The IFA is a member of Copa, while ICOS is a member of Cogeca.
Carr said that CAP is the foundation of a sustainable and competitive farming and agri-food sector in Ireland and Europe, and plays a vital role in maintaining farm incomes, supporting rural communities and driving progress on climate and environmental goals across the EU.
'What we need is a strong, practical, and properly and fully resourced CAP. One that cuts red tape and empowers farmers to focus on producing food, not paperwork. Farming in Ireland and across the EU is struggling to attract young farmers,' the ICOS president said.
'The commission must not risk accelerating the generational renewal crisis. Rather than potentially seeking mechanisms to undermine and defund CAP, the European Commission must stand by its farming citizens, underpin food security, and protect this essential policy,' he added.