Mr. Paul Savage:

Absolutely, and I can come back to the Deputy on that perhaps in more detail after the meeting. I do not have sight directly of the document he is talking about. People can use easy phrases such as "derogation" to describe what is quite a complex matter. Looking purely at the text of the regulation as it stands, with both the Council amendments and the European Parliament's amendments, it can be quite complex to navigate through it and to follow through the different sub-components of those articles, particularly Article 4, which is quite dense in its definition or setting out of the requirements surrounding an eligible hectare. It is easy to refer to that as a derogation.

Again, not having sight of the document the Deputy is talking about directly, I am saying, looking at the layout of the text in the regulation as it stands, including the changes the Council had proposed, that what is being set out is that member states have the flexibility to define and set the standard in GAEC 2. If, as part of the process of setting that standard, land were to be made ineligible, in accordance with the normal consideration of land being eligible for payment, then member states would have the ability to continue to consider those lands eligible for payment. I think that is where the derogation piece comes in. That is where people refer to it as derogation, but it is up to member states themselves to continue to treat those lands as eligible for payment. That will very much depend on what member states decide to do as part of the requirement for GAEC 2. As I said, we will look at that in the context of complying with the requirement but also leaving scope for further development and further actions on those lands under eco schemes and under Pillar 2.