Farmers' visit to Brussels

"We would be losing money"

Two groups of farmers from Northern Ireland and Scotland visited the European Parliament in Brussels in early December. Very concerned by the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, they rely on their MEPs to carry their voices.

Bucolic view of Scotland.

  It is hard to imagine a bigger contrast. On one side, there are green hills with grazing sheep. On the other side, five hundreds miles away, thousands of people are hurrying in and out of a grand building. "The sheer scale of the European Parliament surprised me", remembers Allan Bowie, the Scottish farmer who organised the last trip of the National Farmers Union to Brussels and was especially amazed by "the whole buzz of it".

"There were an awful lot of people running around" recalls Andrew Moir, a 53-year old farm contractor from Laurencekirk. In the Belgian capital for the second time, he found the building "nice to look at", but also "very large, very expensive and with too much unused space". With more than 736 seats and offices for MEPs, hundreds of assistants and scores of translators, the European Parliament does need to be large. And even the most critical eye can not help being "impressed by the debating chamber".

Fortunate because they saw Baroness Ashton

The Scottish farmers’ visit coincided with one of the Parliament’s Brussels sessions. "We were actually quite fortunate because we briefly saw Baroness Ashton speaking" explains Andrew Moir. Talking positively about the "time limit" that prevents any unnecessary boredom, he nonetheless regrets that they were looking directly behind the speakers: "They should have a big screen where you can see the MEPs speaking, because the body language tells a lot".

Like quite a few UK visitors, the farmers got a chance to talk with the MEP who sponsored them. In the case of the Ulster Farmer Union (UFU) group, they spoke with Diane Dodds, DUP MEP for Northern Ireland. "We were impressed with her. She seemed to be well briefed" tells Leslie Craig , leader of the UFU group, which also met Jim Nicholson, an Ulster Unionist MEP from Northern Ireland.

"We would like more time with the MEPs"

	European Parliament, Brussels.

During their tour, the Scottish farmers enjoyed a session of questions and answers with South-East MEP Richard Ashworth and four Scottish MEPs: Struan Stevenson (their sponsor and Conservative MEP), George Lyon (former president of NFU Scotland, now a LibDem MEP), Alyn Smith and Ian Hudghton (both SNP Members). "It was interesting, but quite rushed" thinks Allan Bowie: "We would like more time with the MEPs". According to Mr Moir, the Q&A session was "real good". He adds: "The MEPs we met are generally very supportive of our work. It is important because we were looking for some input into the CAP reform, where it is going".

As a matter of fact, for both Ulster and Scottish farmers, 2013 equals CAP reform which in turn equals big worry. "We are afraid that the capital will go East" explains Mr Craig. "And yet, without the EU funding, we would be losing money. In Northern Ireland, we have a Ministry for Agriculture, but no seat at the European council of ministers".

CAP reform = big worry

As a NFU Scotland farmer, Mr Bowie emphasizes the need for a Scottish perspective: "We have to go through the UK minister, whose position is usually different from ours, because in Scotland the land quality is different and livestock is predominant".

What about the future? "We hope the proposed new European commissioner for agriculture will come to Scotland soon" claims Mr Moir. To his colleague Mr Bowie, the European Parliament is all the more important as Scotland doesn't have a voice of its own: "We definitely need the EU ".

Virginie Malicier