EXCLUSIVE: Commission will put in place tools to nullify the impact of tariffs on farmers – Hogan

The European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan has said the EU stands ready to support Irish farmers in a no-deal Brexit. "The European Commission will protect farmers from the impact of UK tariffs, the European Commission for Agriculture," Phil Hogan has said.

When asked by Irish Farmers Journal editor Justin McCarthy at the Navigating Global Trade conference if he could give farmer’s assurances that the Commission would put in place the tools that would nullify the impact of tariffs the Commissioner said; “that’s exactly what our intention is”.

“We are confident that we will have the necessary tools to help our farmers in our market situation as well as in our income situation,” he said. He said one never knows when the UK might have an 11th hour conversion to a deal. “I hope they come on board, we’ve had enough instability and uncertainty. It’s beggar’s belief that the UK and its public representatives still don’t understand that the EU works together,” he said.

Tools

The Commissioner outlined in his speech seven or eight tools available that would be mobilised in helping farmers in the event of a no-deal Brexit. “We’re not going to find ourselves in a situation talking at a time where we don’t know the political outcome of the negotiations, we don’t know what the tariff schedules are going to be in spite of the efforts by the UK to try and frighten people this week and I think that farmers need the assurances that these are just proposals. “This is only the start of a process and their market situation will be underpinned by market measures in the same way that we’ve done in the past,” he said.