Þetta bændalið er alveg vonlaust

Ég andvarpaði og ranghvolfdi augunum eftir að hafa skrifað eftirfarandi grein í vinnunni í dag:

Lower tariffs on hundreds of EU products as trade agreement comes into effect

Tariffs on hundreds of food products from the European Union were significantly reduced or abolished on Tuesday when Iceland’s bilateral trade preference agreement with the EU came into effect.

Iceland and the EU reached an agreement concerning trade in agricultural products in September 2015, with government spokesmen declaring that the abolition of tariffs would benefit Icelandic consumers by increasing product diversity and pushing prices down.

According to the agreement, Iceland abolishes tariffs on 340 tariff numbers and lowers tariffs on another twenty. The EU correspondingly lowers or abolishes its tariffs. All tariffs on processed agricultural products except yoghurt are abolished, including those on chocolate, pizzas, pasta, baking goods and various other products, while tariffs on unprocessed agricultural commodities such as french fries and outdoor-grown vegetables are reduced.

The agreement also stipulates that both parties significantly increase their tariff-free import quotas for various meat products and cheese. Iceland receives greatly increased tariff-free quotas for agricultural exports such as skyr, butter and mutton.

The agreement was harshly criticised by Sindri Sigurgeirsson, chairman of the Association of Icelandic Farmers, who claims the agreement puts domestic producers in a difficult position. Icelandic farmers are particularly unhappy with the fact that the size of the respective markets is not taken into account.

“In our view, [the agreement] is deeply unfavourable to us here in Iceland while the European Union gets proportionally greater access to our domestic market," Mr Sigurgeirsson said. "Of course, people sought this agreement at the time to secure better access for [Icelandic] skyr and mutton in the European market. That’s the origin of this agreement. But it’s unfavourable and … people didn’t expect this monstrosity of a deal, which makes competition in meat and cheese very difficult for domestic producers.”

Centre Party MPs echoed Mr Sigurgeirsson’s criticism in parliament on Thursday, saying Icelandic authorities made a mistake when they pushed the deal through without consulting interested parties, and without introducing countermeasures to aid farmers.

The agreement was signed by the government of then-Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíd Gunnlaugsson. Mr Gunnlaugsson is now chairman of the Centre Party.

Ríkisstjórn Simma og Framsóknarflokks skrifar undir viðskiptasamning við Evrópusambandið árið 2015, lofar neytendum gulli og grænum skógum, klappar sér á bakið.

Þremur árum síðar eru Simmi og átrúendur hans í Miðflokknum öskureiðir -- yfir samningi sem foringinn sjálfur gaf græna ljósið á! Þetta lið er gjörsamlega óforskammað.

Og af hverju eru bændur skyndilega brjálaðir yfir þessum samningi? Þetta hefur legið fyrir í að verða þrjú ár, samningurinn aðgengilegur öllum á netinu. Ekki eins og þetta hafi verið eitthvað ríkisleyndarmál, en nú skyndilega kemur þetta bændum eins og þruma úr heiðskíru lofti. Kannski þeir kunni ekki á netið.

Menn voru að sækja þetta á sínum tíma fyrir aðgang fyrir skyr og lambakjöt á Evrópumarkað. Þannig er uppruni þessa samnings. En hann er óhagstæður og okkur finnst að menn hafi samið af sér.[heimild]

Héldu þeir virkilega að þeir fengju aðgang að landbúnaðarmarkaði ESB án þess að gefa eitthvað í staðinn? Hvers konar aulaskapur er þetta eiginlega?

Ísland: Þar sem tvískinnungur og viðvaningsháttur er löngu hættur að koma á óvart.