"Nichts mehr davon, ich bitt euch. Zu essen gebt ihm, zu wohnen. Habt ihr die Blöße bedeckt, gibt sich die Würde von selbst." Friedrich Schiller
May 2008	FOOD for PEACE

Irish Farmers Stepping Up Campaign Against Lisbon Treaty With the referendum in Ireland two weeks away, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has escalated its campaign against the Lisbon Treaty with a 10-point statement which is placed as daily newspaper ads--for example, today, in the {Irish Examiner}. Attacking in particular the role of EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in sacrificing farmers' interests to an EU deal with the WTO, the statement says that Mandelson's policy of cutting in agro-subsidies would: "1) mean the abolition of the Common Agricultural Policy; 2) lead to the destruction of the family farm model of European agriculture; 3) hand the European food market to South American ranchers, international shippers and commodity traders; 4) lead a race to the bottom on food safety, animal health standards, labor conditions and environmental degradation; 5) mean beef prices of €2/kg (70p/lb), and the slaughter of a million suckler cows; 6) result in milk prices of €24 cents/liter and increased imports of dairy products; 7) increase lamb imports from New Zealand and Australia that would crush the sheep industry; 8) result in losses in pigs, poultry and grain; 9) mean Ireland will lose 50,000 farmers and 50,000 jobs in the food-processing sector; and 10) result in a €4 billion loss in earnings for the Irish economy. The campaign goes with posters showing the face of Mandelson as the (British) enemy number one of the Irish (not just the farmers) posted all across Ireland.