The Commission has put forward proposals for a range of sectors, namely cereals, milk, protein crops, durum wheat, starch potatoes, dried fodder, etc. I will outline the stance, which I took at the Council in relation to the sectors involved of most interest to Ireland. The Commission is proposing a 5% reduction in intervention prices for cereals and the abolition of the system of monthly increments, together with an increase in direct payments. Market conditions over most of the past two years or so indicate a convergence of EU and world prices for wheat and barley. I told the Council that, in these circumstances, it is difficult to justify a further cut in intervention prices, particularly bearing in mind the budgetary cost of the resultant increase in direct payments.