Challenges and opportunities in the face of change

New-Government formation has been a hot - and at times, heated - topic for some time on these shores, and for good reason. The creation of a stable Government is hugely important, observes Billy, and he believes we have achieved that. “We have a Government that has a strong policy agenda and a commitment to stay the course for five years. There is a lot of geopolitical and economic uncertainty globally and we need political stability. There is a new president in the White House and that could change global market dynamics in terms of trade tariffs, disruption of trading blocs and agreements. EU trade will be put under pressure, so there are significant challenges in that area alone.”
But there are also huge opportunities to seize: “A Government that is committed and stable, and can make difficult decisions, when necessary, will be critical. The incoming Government must make big decisions around infrastructure development, ensuring that the economy continues to expand, and that will require significant changes in how we do business. We cannot accept cost overruns and delays such as what happened with the children’s hospital.
“We have a huge amount of investment to put into water, into housing, into the electricity grid and the generation of electricity and that will require efficient planning and execution. Ireland is struggling in terms of bringing forward big infrastructure on time and within budget.”

Agriculture to the fore

Agriculture must be to the fore, the Fianna Fáil MEP said, adding that there is a lot of anxiety and concern within the farming community at the moment. “In the longer term farmers need policy continuity and certainty. They have always been price takers, that’s the nature of the business, but they need clarity around regulation and policy so that farmers can get on with the business of investing in and managing their businesses.”

A changing emphasis

The European Parliament has a changed political profile since the June 2024 election, Billy agrees: “You can sense the change in emphasis. The Parliament has gone more to the right, especially on the big political issues around immigration and the environment. Equally, it’s become more centrist on agricultural issues. I’d like to see common sense prevailing.
“In terms of regulation and legislation going through the Parliament, it very often depends on the makeup of the members. Previous Parliaments would have had a very strong green agenda and while much of that legislation is written in stone, how it’s implemented should be more moderate. Timelines and excessive regulations around the green agenda that were being pushed in previous Parliaments and Governments across Europe may be diluted a bit now. We don’t want to dilute to the point where we roll back on our ambition and fall between all the stools, but we need a practical approach. Financial support for farmers in the continuing transition is required. We have to get that balance right. The same applies to the Nitrates Directive, where farmers are uncertain about their future. The water quality review should provide clarity so that farmers can get on with what they do best – farming and producing high-quality food at a reasonable cost to the consumer. I want the Government to fight tooth and nail to retain the derogation. Its loss would put pressure on the entire agricultural sector because of the scarcity of land and would reduce competitiveness and efficiency. We have a good story to tell around Irish agriculture’s impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water quality.”

A strong voice for agriculture

In relation to the recently appointed European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen from Luxembourg, Billy says he ‘comes across as a person who understands farming and has strong connections with the sector’. “He will bring an enthusiasm that was missing under the previous commissioner,” says Billy. “You need an agriculture commissioner who defends farming in the European Commission. The environmental agenda has been dominant, and we need a balanced approach.
Most agricultural policies are now looked at through the environmental prism, first and foremost. We need all aspects of legislation and policy to be subjected to impact assessments on farming. That has been absent over the past five years.”

Paying for progress

The Cork-born farmer and politician highlighted the financial challenges facing Europe and if the financing will be there to facilitate a broader agenda that encompasses both the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the environmental ambition? “That’s going to be one of the biggest challenges facing Europe,” he says. “The war in Ukraine, the cost of energy, the loss of economic competitiveness in Germany and the debt challenges in France are all aspects of the problem. How does Europe finance itself? Nobody has come up with a solution to that."
We’re afraid to ask the question because we may not like the answer," he says. "Ireland is a net contributor. It contributes more to Europe than it gets out in direct payments. The key issue here is, if we want Europe to do more on agriculture, if we want it to do more on the environmental pillar, if we want to sustain family farms, then Europe must have a larger budget. The EU doesn’t have access to its own budgetary provisions, so it has to depend on Member States’ contributions, and most are reluctant to increase their funding. France and Germany are in deep financial trouble. If you look under the bonnet at the figures in terms of budget, demographics and output, they are significantly challenged, with Germany teetering on recession. They are two major economies that won’t be writing big cheques anytime soon or wanting to increase the European budget. Whether we like it in Ireland or not, countries across Europe are under pressure to increase their military spending because of the threat of Russian invasion of the Baltics, Romania, Poland and Finland. These countries are saying they can’t increase EU contributions because they must spend on military to guarantee their defence and their obligations to NATO. There will be pressure on EU budgets because of low growth, lack of competitiveness, as well as the prioritising of security.

“The issue of rebalancing payments between east and west in the EU is also a financial challenge. Eastern European countries are saying, why are farmers in the old west getting more per hectare in direct payments than those in the newer countries that joined from 2004 onwards?”

The Trump challenge

Billy Kelleher says the EU and the US must work out some rational way of ensuring that we don’t have tariffs that ultimately hurt everyone, because tariffs invariably increase costs: “If America puts tariffs on imports, it increases costs for American consumers and businesses. The same thing happens from a European perspective. I am concerned that some actions will be taken by the Trump presidency to preserve credibility and you can sense that the Trump administration is obsessed with manufacturing and bringing jobs home, so that would have an impact on Europe. For Ireland, it’s not only about trade tariffs on the agri sector, but also the overall potential impact on the Irish economy.”