Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Political agreement between the three European institutions on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy was reached under the Irish Presidency in June, with final details expected to be agreed with the European Parliament, hopefully this afternoon. There is a final trialogue between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council which finalised its position yesterday in terms of those negotiations.

The reform addresses three broad themes. First, there is a greater emphasis on sustainability and on further strengthening the environmental credentials of the CAP, through the greening of direct payments and the requirement to support agri-environmental measures in rural development programmes. Second, generational renewal is given a much greater focus, with new and enhanced support for young farmers under both pillars of the CAP and third, there is a continuing move towards greater market orientation, through the phasing out of production quotas for key products and the use of market support measures as a safety net in the event of severe market disturbance. In addition, considerable flexibility is granted to member states under the reform to pursue targeted policies under both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 that are suited to their individual circumstances and agricultural production systems. Most importantly from an Irish perspective, this extends to the way in which direct payments are to be redistributed between farmers, which will allow us to achieve the twin objectives of making the direct payments system fairer for those currently on low payments, while not undermining the efforts of those on higher payments to develop their farming enterprises.

It is up to member states now to get on with the implementation of the reform. I launched a consultation process with all the relevant stakeholders and other interested parties in July and by the closing date of last Friday, 20 September, 37 responses had been received. I and my Department will consider these submissions over the coming weeks and I intend to formulate and publicise the final shape of the new direct payments system. In my answer here it states "towards the end of 2013" but I hope to do it considerably earlier than that.

In regard to Pillar 2, preparatory work for the next Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 is already well under way. An initial stakeholder consultation process was launched in 2012 and written submissions were received from over 80 stakeholders. A second consultation was held in July where stakeholders attended a full-day workshop. Based on the outcome of these processes, the drafting of a new programme will be advanced in my Department before the end of the year.

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