Hourigan calls for streamlining of CAP and reducing 'overwhelming EU bureaucracy' for farmers

Labour MEP candidate for Ireland South, Niamh Hourigan, has called for the immediate streamlining of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scheme for farmers and has warned that cumbersome red-tape is damaging farming goodwill towards a Just Transition.

"In other countries, calls for streamlining of CAP have been associated with a roll back of climate measures," Hourigan says, "But that does not have to be the case. 

"Small and medium size farmers are drowning under a sea of forms and bureaucracy. When Phil Hogan became Commissioner for Agriculture, he promised to reform and streamline the CAP scheme. While some initial changes were made, further changes to the scheme have resulted in a deluge of paperwork and bureaucracy.

"Farmers are at the centre of the Just Transition and we need to support small and medium sized farmers to remain active on their farms. Right now they are so overwhelmed with paperwork that many of them are doubting their future in agriculture. 

"Labour is all about supporting workers. Farmers are self-employed workers whose time is devoted to their farm livelihoods. Every new EU form and scheme involves time taken away from work on farm at a time when farmers are already stretched in terms of workloads and finding it difficult to access manpower to support their work on their farms.

"I am calling for the immediate streamlining of the CAP. This streamlining does not need to involve any erosion of climate measures but would significantly support farmers in dealing with the overwhelming amount of bureaucracy that they are currently facing from the EU. 

"The European Union needs to work with farmers to deliver a truly Just Transition rather than overwhelming them in regulation."