Farmers have been conned by EU Commission

Press Statement by Chairmen of 'Farmers for No' James Reynolds about today's EU Commission proposals on inheritance law:

"Farmers have been brazenly lied to by the EU Commission in order to get Lisbon passed. Now Lisbon has been passed the EU Commission is putting in train everything it denied would happen during the recent Treaty debate. It's patent dishonesty is repugnant to all decent people.
"Commission has just announced a move on inheritance law without even a glance at its denials that it would do so during the Lisbon referendum.
"As Farmers for No have said, eaten bread is quickly forgotten. Now, Ireland has voted Yes and is, so to speak, 'in the bag', the EU Commission will throw every proposal it wants on us and there is nothing the IFA leadership can do about it. Farmers have been conned."

James Reynolds is Longford-based Cattle farmer.


At the launch of Farmers for No on August 20, we said

EU Commission proposals on inheritance law harmonisation, if fully implemented, would mean that Irish farmers will not be able to pass on their family farm as a single working unit to one of their children in the future.
The partial harmonisation of inheritance codes throughtout the EU as proposed by the commission will mean the continental judicial system in this matter would prevail over the Irish Common Law system. It would mean a reserved portion of the deceased's property would have to go to the children of the deceased in equal portion.
Those countries with the Napoleonic Code insist that one cannot leave property as one wishes, but that all children have an equal share.
This would mean the family farm would have to be broken up or sold.

In May this year, the EU Commission dropped the proposals to partially harmonise inheritance law throughout the EU until after Lisbon is voted on. This move was cynical and beneath contempt. Irish farmers want and deserve transparency of this issue.

Farmers for NO drew attention to two articles which gave outline to the EU Commission proposals, one in the The Irish Times
another in the European Voice 14th May 2009.


The EU Commission denied what we said about their proposals


Response to reported claims "Farmers for No" on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty

21/08/2009

The statements of the Irish farm lobby group (Farmers for No) on the Lisbon Treaty and on EU policies, quoted in today's press, are factually incorrect and misleading. They represent a totally distorted picture of the reality.

The European Commission wishes make the following points:

• Claims that succession rights will be affected by EU proposals

There is no threat from the EU to farm succession rights. This is a matter that will continue to be governed by national rules and traditions. The issue of succession rights are not a European competence.

Yet in the press today [Irish Examiner] there is an article outlining the EU Commission new proposals to introduce proposals that people can choose their jurisdiction when cross border property is being inherited.

He [Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot] proposes people should be able to choose whether the law of the country where they live or the country where the assets are, applies to the will.

......... the proposal will take some of the stress out of succession planning by allowing people to choose the law that will govern the transmission of all their assets," he said.

The rules would not change the national rules on succession – on the continent, spouses and children cannot be disinherited and are entitled to a fixed share of assets normally.

FYI: EU aims to harmonise succession law across the Europe

Fears for Lisbon vote prompt delay in EU law
The Irish Times

JAMIE SMYTH in Brussels

Wed, May 20, 2009

INHERITANCE: THE EUROPEAN Commission has delayed a proposal to enable the EU-wide recognition of inheritance claims for fear of upsetting Irish voters ahead of a second Lisbon referendum.

The draft legislation is intended to cope with the increasingly common situation whereby EU citizens live in one country with certain inheritance rules, but they own property in other EU states.

It proposes to introduce common rules for member states to follow on which law should be used to judge such cross-border inheritance claims.

If the Government opted in to the measure, it could ultimately enable foreign laws to be implemented in Irish courts, which is a particularly sensitive issue for the legal profession.

“It was felt that the proposal was too sensitive in the lead-up to the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which is expected to be held in the autumn. So it was delayed,” one EU diplomat told The Irish Times yesterday.

Senior commission officials, including secretary general Catherine Day, are understood to have pulled the proposal in the spring.

The commission’s 2009 work programme initially proposed that the draft law would be published in March before being sent to the Council of Ministers for debate.

The decision to delay the proposal follows a similar move last year to quietly drop the commission’s controversial proposal to harmonise the corporate tax base in the EU.

This plan was seized on by No campaigners during the first Lisbon referendum and portrayed as a key threat to Ireland’s tax sovereignty even though the Government could choose to opt out of it.

The proposal on recognition of inheritance claims is controversial because it relates to family law, another area where Ireland is seeking specific guarantees related to the treaty.

The European Voice said the draft law could potentially have enabled relatives to “claw back” property or items given away by the deceased during their lifetime – a mechanism allowed under many EU states’ succession laws, but precluded by Irish and UK law.

According to commission estimates, the proposed legislation would affect about 450,000 successions every year.

Rules on which national law should apply in cross-border succession cases vary: some EU states follow the principle that the law should be determined by the nationality of the deceased, while others apply the law of the state where the deceased lived.

A Government spokeswoman said last night the Government had nothing to do with the commission’s decision to withdraw the proposal.

A commission spokesman also denied that the delay was due to the Irish referendum.

However, several EU diplomats confirmed the story, with one noting that everyone was focused on ensuring that potential landmines were avoided in the run-up to the autumn referendum, which will decide the fate of the treaty.

This matter was also reported in the European Voice 14th May 2009.

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS Inheritance
Irish treaty vote puts inheritance law on hold

14.05.2009

Commission fears negative Irish reactions over law on inheritance.
Plans for EU-wide recognition of inheritance claims have fallen victim to Ireland's projected second referendum on the Lisbon treaty. The European Commission has postponed a controversial plan to have wills and inheritance claims recognised across member states until after the Irish referendum, expected in the autumn.

Both Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Catherine Day, the secretary-general, requested that the proposal be put on hold, for fear of negative reactions in the Irish Republic on the sensitive matter of family inheritance ahead of the crucial referendum.