The Lisbon Treaty will in principle make the European Union’s agriculture (CAP) and fisheries (CFP) policies more democratic by bringing them under co-decision. But Ireland’s referendum has postponed that hope to a later date.

The first consequence for the Common Agricultural Policy of Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, on 12 June, is that there will “probably not be co-decision on 1 January 2009,” ie the European Parliament will not have greater powers on agricultural matters, explained Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, in an interview just hours before the results were announced. The negotiations on the CAP ‘health check’, set to be concluded before the end of the year under the French EU Presidency, will “theoretically” not be affected, French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier told the press on the day of the referendum. In contrast, he sees a “risk for the future CAP because the European institutions will be weakened”. Jean-Michel Lemétayer, president of the Committee of Professional Agriculture Organisations in the EU (Copa), recognised, on 13 June, that he would be “extremely disappointed” by a negative outcome in Ireland, which will nevertheless at least have the effect of “waking people up” to the fact that “European policy is neither visible nor understood”.

The situation is identical for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Europêche, which supports co-decision in terms of transparency and legitimacy, is convinced that “sooner or later, we will achieve it”. Europêche is awaiting a possible initiative by the French EU Presidency but notes that, for now, the sector is more interested in emergency measures. And in this case, co-decision would be an obstacle.