Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The provisional agenda for the next meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers, scheduled for 26 and 27 November, indicates that it will deal with both agriculture and fisheries matters. As regards agriculture, the Commission will present its communication to the Council and the European Parliament on preparing for the health check of the CAP reform. It will also present its proposals on reform of the support system for cotton and suspension of import duties in the cereals sector. A proposal for a regulation on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks will be put to the Council for adoption. A significant proportion of the Council will be taken up with trilateral meetings on the proposed reform of the common organisation of the wine market.

In so far as the fisheries sector is concerned, political agreement will be sought on a proposal to establish a multi-annual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In addition, the Commission will provide information to the Council on several issues, namely, the EC-Norway annual consultations for 2008, the proposed action plan for simplifying and improving the Common Fisheries Policy and the proposed strategy and related proposals for the Community to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

It goes without saying that all matters discussed at the Council are of concern to Ireland. As preparations for the Council are continuing in the Council working groups, COREPER and the special committee on agriculture, the nature of discussions in the Council and the issues of particular concern to me may change depending on the outcome of negotiations at official level.

At this point, I have a particular interest in hearing the Commission's presentation of its communication on preparing for the health check of the CAP. The Council meeting will be the first opportunity for the Commission to present its paper to Ministers, which was published earlier this week. My view is that the main focus of this health check should be on simplification and policy stability and I note the assurances already given by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Fischer Boel, that further fundamental reform of the CAP is not envisaged at this point. I will convey these views to the Council and I am looking forward to participating in detailed discussions on this dossier in the coming months.

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