Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 86: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will report on the most recent Agriculture Council meeting in Luxembourg; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37543/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The most recent Agriculture Council meeting took place in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday of this week and dealt with both agriculture and fisheries issues. As regards fisheries, the Council reached political agreement on proposals for Council Regulations fixing fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks in the Baltic and Black Seas for 2009 and for fishing opportunities for Community fishing vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks for 2009 and 2010. The Council also had an exchange of views on the bilateral fisheries agreement with Norway and on preparation of the Community position for the forthcoming meeting of the International Commission for the conservation of Atlantic tuna.

As to agriculture, the Commission made a first presentation of its proposals establishing obligations for traders concerning the marketing of timber and timber products. This is part of the ongoing effort to combat illegal logging. The Council also held a policy debate on a Commission proposal making provision for school fruit schemes on an EU-wide basis. In this regard, Ireland's "food dude" scheme has been praised by the Commission and other Member States as an ideal template.

On the Health Check of the CAP I met privately with the Commissioner and with the President of the Agriculture Council, Michel Barnier, to discuss the main Irish priorities. It was a very productive and constructive meeting at which I made known my key concerns regarding milk quotas and additional modulation. As regards the milk sector I stressed the need for a genuine 'soft landing', when milk quotas come to an end, accompanied by a predictable set of steps that would allow farmers and industry to plan for the future. I emphasised the need for progressive quota increases and made a specific request that additional quota allocations for Ireland be front-loaded given our capacity to progressively increase production. In this regard I asked the Commissioner to make adjustments to the butterfat calculations in order to facilitate the release of higher levels of quota in 2009.

As regards the proposed increase in modulation, I outlined to the Commissioner my opposition to the substantial increase proposed. On other priorities I sought an increase in available EU funding for special sectoral measures to assist farmers. Many Member States, including Ireland, cannot currently fully utilise the funding allocated for the single farm payment scheme because of the complex and restrictive rules governing the scheme. I am therefore seeking greater national discretion in the use of these funds. If agreed, this would effectively release these unspent funds and provide additional money for necessary measures to assist farmers. I am confident that this dossier will be brought to a successful conclusion at next month's Agriculture Council.

Under other business, the Commission provided information on its Green Paper on the quality of agricultural products and Slovenia informed the Council of the outcome of the 23rd conference of EU paying agencies held in Ljubljana in May of this year during the Slovenian presidency. Hungary and Poland raised concerns about the crisis on the market for apples for processing in certain central European Member States. Poland also presented its views on how unspent CAP funds might be used and raised issues in relation to some current difficulties on agricultural markets. The French Presidency also asked the Commission to provide an update on the situation in relation to bluetongue.