Latest news with #EdwardCarr
Economist
4 days ago
- Business
- Economist
Cover Story newsletter: How we chose the cover image
Peer into The Economist's decision-making processes with Edward Carr, our deputy editor, who explains how we select and design our front cover. Cover Story shares preliminary sketches and documents the—often spirited—debates that lead each week to a design seen by millions of people.
Agriland
20-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Watch: Farmers protest in heart of Dublin city over future of CAP funding
Farmers from all over Ireland gathered in the heart of Dublin city centre today (Tuesday, May 20) to protest over fears about the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget. The joint protest organised by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) took place outside the European Commission's offices in the city centre. The European Commission last week (May 14) published a large package of measures designed to 'simplify the CAP and boost EU farmers' competitiveness'. The CAP is a common policy for all EU countries and is managed and funded at European level from the resources of the EU's budget. 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. However, the IFA has warned the commission against 'stripping away the CAP budget in favour of a single fund approach to the EU budget under the MFF'. The president of ICOS, Edward Carr, has also stressed that CAP is the 'foundation of a sustainable and competitive farming and agri-food sector in Ireland and Europe'. CAP protest The Dublin protest coincided with other protests across EU member states today that were organised by various farming organisations. The protest in Dublin was led by deputy president of the IFA, Alice Doyle, and the president of ICOS, Edward Carr. IFA deputy president Doyle believes that any changes to the CAP could have 'huge consequences' for the farming community in Ireland, and across the European Union. She told Agriland: 'It means that that budget can be pilfered at any time and money from that budget can be used for anything other than just food production. 'The CAP budget has always been there to protect food production, and food security in Europe. If that budget is not ring fenced, there is always a risk that the budget can be used for something else, and that food production will not be supported. 'At this moment, there couldn't be anything more important than food security.' According to ICOS president Carr, farming is not sustainable unless the industry is supported by the European Union. He said: 'We're proud to be farmers, we're proud of what we do, we want to continue to do it, and we want the next generation after us to be able to do it. Unless we are supported it's not possible. 'We are one of the best countries in the world to produce food, and we need to protect that. We can produce sustainably in this country, and that needs to be protected.' 'This is another crossroads, farmers are being faced with a lot of change over the last few years, farmers have embraced those changes, just as there is a little bit of settlement coming back into the change,' Carr added. European Commission The European Commission's representative in Ireland, Peter Power, reassured Irish farmers that they 'will be heard'. Speaking to farmers at the protest, he said that farmers have always been central to the European project, and that that has not changed. 'The president of the Commission (Ursula von der Leyen) has made it very clear, farmers are entitled to a fair and sufficient income. 'Commissioner Hansen came here in January to hear directly about the concerns from Irish farmers. We are in listening mode.' 'The budgetary cycle is kicking in now. Your protest comes at a timely manner, when your voice will be heard,' Power added.
Belfast Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Farming groups hold protest over Cap proposals in Dublin
Farmers and farming representatives took part in the 'flash action' at the European Commission offices on Tuesday morning. The IFA and Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) protest coincides with a flash action organised by Copa Cogeca, the largest representative union of more than 22 million European farmers in Brussels. The EU Commission has put forward proposals to amalgamate Cap into a single fund. The move has sparked concern in the agricultural sector, who warns that their funding could be stripped back over the years as it will not be ring-fenced. Alice Doyle, deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association, said they have been warning against the consequences of the changes to the Cap budget. 'The Cap budget has been in place since the Treaty of Rome, way back in the 50s, and it was put in place to make sure that we would have food security across Europe, which was paramount and is still paramount today,' she said. 'The production of food is very important. Farmers have to be supported financially to produce food. We are producing the best food in the world, in Ireland and across Europe. 'But if that food security is to be there, we're going to have to support our farmers in the continuous production of that food. 'The Cap budget is what gives that finance to the farmers to help them produce that food. If that budget is subsumed into the main European budget, it can be pilfered at any time, to be used for any purpose. 'We want this ring-fenced, as it has always been from the very beginning, ring-fenced to support farmers across Europe and here in Ireland in particular, in the production of food, and to make sure that we have food security.' She added: 'If it is not ring-fenced, the income of farmers would be reduced dramatically, because we all depend on that direct payment coming from Europe. That's part of our basic income scheme. 'The second thing is, it would have a huge impact on rural Ireland because farmers are based in rural Ireland, and every penny they earn is spent in rural Ireland.' Edward Carr, a diary farmer from Tipperary, president of the ICOS and chairman of Arrabawn Co-operative, said the Cap budget is being targeted. 'The proposed changes are very concerning for the future of farmers within our country,' he said. 'It's concerning because the Cap was brought in few years ago for us as a protection that we produce cheap food. 'It has to be taken into consideration that we are probably one of the best countries on the globe to produce sustainable food in a sustainable manner, while protecting the environment. 'I think it's just come to the stage where farmers have to stand up for themselves and protect themselves. The future of this cheap, sustainable food being produced has to be protected. It's time for Europe to pay more heed to this.'
Russia Today
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
A chihuahua that thinks it's a lion: The decline of Britain
There are only two countries in the world that have exercised full autonomy over major political decisions for more than 500 years: Russia and Britain. No others come close. That alone makes Moscow and London natural rivals. But now, we can say with confidence that our historical adversary is no longer what it once was. Britain is losing its foreign policy clout and has been reduced to what we might call 'Singapore on the Atlantic' : an island trading power, out of sync with the broader trajectory of world affairs. The fall from global relevance is not without irony. For centuries, Britain caused nothing but harm to the international system. It played France and Germany off one another, betrayed its own allies in Eastern Europe, and exploited its colonies to exhaustion. Even within the European Union, from 1972 until Brexit in 2020, the UK worked tirelessly to undermine the project of integration – first from within, and now from without, with backing from Washington. Today, the British foreign policy establishment still attempts to sabotage European cohesion, acting as an American proxy. The late historian Edward Carr once mocked the British worldview with a fictional headline: 'Fog in Channel – Continent Cut Off.' This egoism, common to island nations, is especially pronounced in Britain, which has always existed beside continental civilization. It borrowed freely from Europe's culture and political ideas, yet always feared them. That fear was not unfounded. Britain has long understood that true unification of Europe – especially involving Germany and Russia – would leave it sidelined. Thus, the primary goal of British policy has always been to prevent cooperation between the major continental powers. Even now, no country is more eager than Britain to see the militarization of Germany. The idea of a stable Russia-Germany alliance has always been a nightmare scenario for London. Whenever peace between Moscow and Berlin looked possible, Britain would intervene to sabotage it. The British approach to international relations mirrors its domestic political thought: atomized, competitive, distrustful of solidarity. While continental Europe produced theories of political community and mutual obligation, Britain gave the world Thomas Hobbes and his 'Leviathan,' a grim vision of life without justice between the state and its citizens. Read more Fyodor Lukyanov: Here's what Trump really wants from his trade war That same combative logic extends to foreign policy. Britain doesn't cooperate; it divides. It has always preferred enmity among others over engagement with them. But the tools of that strategy are disappearing. Britain today is a power in steep decline, reduced to shouting from the sidelines. Its internal political life is a carousel of increasingly unqualified prime ministers. This is not simply a result of difficult times. It reflects a deeper problem: the absence of serious political leadership in London. Even the United States, Britain's closest ally, is now a threat to its autonomy. The Anglosphere no longer needs two powers that speak English and operate under the same oligarchic political order. For a time, Britain found comfort in the Biden administration, which tolerated its role as transatlantic intermediary. London leveraged its anti-Russian stance to stay relevant and inserted itself into US-EU relations. But that space is narrowing. Today's American leaders are uninterested in mediators. During a recent trip to Washington, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer could barely answer direct questions on foreign policy. His deference reflected a new reality: even the illusion of independence is fading. Meanwhile, France's Emmanuel Macron, for all his posturing, at least leads a country that actually controls its nuclear arsenal. Britain claims to have authority over its nuclear submarines, but many doubt it. In ten years, experts believe it may lose even the technical capacity to manage its nuclear weapons without US support. At that point, London will face a choice: full subservience to Washington or exposure to EU pressures, especially from France. Recent talk in London of sending 'European peacekeepers' to Ukraine is a case in point. Despite the unrealistic nature of such proposals, British and French officials spent weeks debating operational details. Some reports suggest the plan stalled due to lack of funds. The real motive was likely to project relevance and show the world that Britain still has a role to play. But neither the media spin nor the political theater can change the facts. Britain's global standing has diminished. It is no longer capable of independent action and has little influence even as a junior partner. Its leaders are consumed by domestic dysfunction and foreign policy fantasy. Read more Can Trump reshape the Middle East? In practical terms, Britain remains dangerous to Russia in two ways. First, by supplying weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine, it increases our costs and casualties. Second, in a moment of desperation, it might try to manufacture a small nuclear crisis. If that happens, one hopes the Americans would take the necessary steps to neutralize the threat – even if that means sinking a British submarine. There is nothing positive for Russia, or the world, in the continued existence of Britain as a foreign policy actor. Its legacy is one of division, sabotage, and imperial plunder. Now, it lives off the crumbs of a bygone empire, barking from the Atlantic like a chihuahua with memories of being a lion. The world moves on. Britain does not. This article was first published by ' Vzglyad ' newspaper and was translated and edited by the RT team.
