ICSA president Sean McNamara has said the European Commission must be stopped from dismantling the ringfenced CAP budget. His comments follow reports that the Commission is considering scrapping CAP's standalone budget and merging it into a single EU fund as part of its long-term financial plan, due in July. "Agriculture cannot be sacrificed to pay for other EU priorities like defence and security. Food security cannot be taken for granted. Our farmers are on the frontline, and they must be supported - not sidelined," he said.

Continuing, Mr McNamara said, "This is potentially the most dangerous threat to the CAP in a generation. Food security is just as vital as defence, and frontline food producers must not be left footing the bill for every other EU priority. The Commission appear to be hellbent on dismantling the CAP, but a strong, separate CAP budget is the bare minimum we need. It must also be increased to reflect rising costs and restore its value which has been more than halved by inflation. ICSA also wants to see dedicated and separate funding for environmental measures."

Mr McNamara said he is also alarmed by the Commission's plans to publish its vision for the post-2027 CAP at the same time as the EU's new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). "There has been no engagement with farmers on what the next CAP should look like. It makes no sense to bring out major plans for the future of CAP without talking to farmers first. Doing it alongside the EU budget also feels very premature. Farmers everywhere will be rightly worried that the future of EU agriculture is being shaped behind closed doors in Brussels without the people who will be most affected having any real say. That is not acceptable, and it raises serious questions."

 Mr McNamara said he is calling on Minister Heydon and the Irish government to strongly oppose any move to merge the CAP budget into a general EU fund and to demand increased, not reduced, spending on CAP. "It is vital that Minister Heydon leads the charge with other EU agriculture ministers to ensure agriculture is not sidelined. CAP must remain committed to its three core objectives: a fair income for farmers, food security for Europeans, and sustaining the economic and social fabric of rural areas. Separate, ringfenced, and increased CAP funding must remain non-negotiable. Anything less would be a betrayal."

On the CAP simplification package published earlier this week, Mr McNamara said there were some welcome signs. However, he said, "We have heard promises of simplification before, only for things to become even more complicated. There are positive proposals in the package, but simplification must be more than a slogan, it must deliver genuine change at farm level."