Tony Killeen, Fianna Fail TD for Clare, and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has called on all relevant Clare farming interests to continue to engage actively and realistically in the discussions on the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which will intensify in the early months of this year.
The CAP will undergo significant change from 2013. Ireland has attended an intensive series of bilateral meetings at official and political level over the last number of months with Agriculture Ministers and MEPS from the EU Commission and other Member States.
The Clare Fianna Fail T.D. said that while the formal communication from the EU Commission was not expected until the middle of 2010, the current informal phase of negotiations was extremely important. He stated: “This is the time when ideas on the new CAP are exchanged and the main policy options are formulated. Discussions are at a very early stage, but it is already clear that there will be change, and that the outcome of the upcoming negotiations on the future of the CAP after 2013 will be pivotal in determining the future prospects for the development of Irish agriculture up to 2020.”
According to Minister of State Killeen: “The full participation by the European Parliament in this round of CAP reform is a new element, and it is not yet fully clear how it will impact on the negotiations. However it is a very welcome development in that it will open up the process more and hopefully improve public understanding of and participation in the process”.
Meanwhile, Minister of State Killeen has welcomed the significant interest displayed in the process by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and confirmed that the Department would facilitate the Committee’s input.
Minister of State Killeen expressed his belief that the CAP should retain its current structure with two ‘pillars’: the single farm payments and market management measures in pillar 1, and the rural development schemes in pillar 2. “Ultimately, we need a CAP that is based on the twin goals of competitiveness and sustainability, that is properly funded, and that is simple to justify, understand and operate”, he concluded.
The CAP will undergo significant change from 2013. Ireland has attended an intensive series of bilateral meetings at official and political level over the last number of months with Agriculture Ministers and MEPS from the EU Commission and other Member States.
The Clare Fianna Fail T.D. said that while the formal communication from the EU Commission was not expected until the middle of 2010, the current informal phase of negotiations was extremely important. He stated: “This is the time when ideas on the new CAP are exchanged and the main policy options are formulated. Discussions are at a very early stage, but it is already clear that there will be change, and that the outcome of the upcoming negotiations on the future of the CAP after 2013 will be pivotal in determining the future prospects for the development of Irish agriculture up to 2020.”
According to Minister of State Killeen: “The full participation by the European Parliament in this round of CAP reform is a new element, and it is not yet fully clear how it will impact on the negotiations. However it is a very welcome development in that it will open up the process more and hopefully improve public understanding of and participation in the process”.
Meanwhile, Minister of State Killeen has welcomed the significant interest displayed in the process by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and confirmed that the Department would facilitate the Committee’s input.
Minister of State Killeen expressed his belief that the CAP should retain its current structure with two ‘pillars’: the single farm payments and market management measures in pillar 1, and the rural development schemes in pillar 2. “Ultimately, we need a CAP that is based on the twin goals of competitiveness and sustainability, that is properly funded, and that is simple to justify, understand and operate”, he concluded.
