This article is from page 31 of the 2005-11-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
The ICSA held a demonstration outside the British Embassy in Dublin to protest against EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson’s proposed cuts in tariffs at the WTO negotiations scheduled for Hong Kong on Friday.
The protest specifically targeted the UK Embassy because, accord- ing to the ICSA, the UK has used its presidency of the European Union
to stifle debate and analysis on the EU position at important meetings such as the Council of Ministers meetings.
Speaking at the protest ICSA President Malcolm Thompson said, these cuts, which are up to 60 per cent, will make farming unviable for Irish and EU farmers. Peter Mandelson’s proposals threaten to undermine European food security, and are ill-conceived and unwork- able.”
‘He is clearly hell bent on exceed- ing his mandate, is evidently will- ing to sell out agriculture in order to get a deal and he 1s protected from accountability by the blatant UK manipulation of their term of office of the presidency of the EU.”
An ICSA spokesperson said that the organisation is alarmed that the WTO negotiations have been kept off the agenda of all meetings of the Council of Agriculture Munisters since the summer. This, they be-
lieve, is outrageous given the huge importance of the WTO talks.
“What is the point of having a Council of Ministers that ignores the main issues?” he continued. “I can’t understand how they can man- age to have a Farm Council meeting on November 22-24 without actual- ly mentioning the WTO, just weeks before the decision-making WTO meeting in Hong Kong!.”