Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

No.

Since the first policy debate took place under the French Presidency in September 2008 on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, I have been fully engaged with the EU Commission and my colleagues in other member states to present the Irish position. I have participated in all policy debates under subsequent Presidencies and I have had informal discussions with a number of my colleagues from other member states. I met the Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, in February last shortly after his appointment and I will have further discussions with him when he visits Ireland later in the year. At official level too, we have had contacts and discussions with our colleagues in other member states and with the Commission and I will have further discussions next Monday and Tuesday also.

Ireland was one of a group of 22 like-minded member states that signed up to a declaration in Paris in December last on the importance of a strong and properly resourced CAP in future. This is my over-arching view and one for which there is good support in the Council.

Although the legal proposals for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy will not be published until mid-2011, I will continue to participate fully in the upcoming discussions. It is at this point in the negotiations that the broad direction of future policy will be set and I intend to be actively involved. I will travel to Spain next week for the meeting of Agriculture Ministers under the Spanish Presidency where the topic for discussion will be the future of EU agricultural policy in the context of the EU2020 strategy. It was at the insistence of Ireland and some other member states that the European Council included a reference in the conclusions on its spring meeting on the need for all common policies, including the CAP, to support the strategy. The conclusions went on to state that "a sustainable, productive and competitive agricultural sector will make an important contribution to the new strategy, considering the growth and employment potential of rural areas while ensuring fair competition".

The proposed strategy was subsequently discussed by EU Agriculture Ministers and there was unanimous agreement that agriculture had a crucial contribution to make to the strategy in terms of sustainable growth, rural employment, territorial cohesion, mitigating climate change, economic growth, increasing exports and social inclusion.

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