The European Union has completed the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) trialogue negotiations and reached a provisional agreement – but not everyone is impressed. The €387bn farming subsidy agreement needs to be ratified by agriculture ministers before it can be implemented.

The European Dairy Association (EDA) and European farmer association Copa-Cogeca welcomed the deal as EDA said implementation of the deal is key to competitiveness of the dairy sector in different EU regions. Copa-Cogeca called the provisional agreement a major accomplishment as work needs to continue to translate the agreement in technical terms, saying the CAP’s overall coherence with other EU policies remained a concern. The World Wildlife Fund’s senior policy officer agriculture and food Jabier Ruiz was critical of the agreement, saying it was just protecting the status quo and not supporting EU farmers in their transition to climate and nature-friendly agriculture.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said the provisional CAP was “a bad deal for Irish farmers” saying the combined effects of the proposal will “decimate a cohort of farmers in Ireland.” IFA president Tim Cullinan criticised the EU Commission for failing to keep its promise of doing impact assessments of the Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies before any aspects are legislated for.