Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking to construct an alliance at member State level to support Ireland's case for reform of the common agricultural policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14596/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is at all times a key priority of mine to build alliances with my counterparts in like-minded Member States in order to maximise support for my position on the proposed reform of the CAP. Indeed I have been doing so since taking up office in March last year.

During 2011, I had formal bilateral meetings with the EU Agriculture Commissioner and with my German, French, UK, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish and Danish Ministerial colleagues. I also took the opportunity to meet with my Ministerial colleagues from the other Member States and the EU Commission at the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers meetings held each month in Brussels or Luxembourg, and at the Informal Ministerial Councils held in Hungary and Poland. In November of last year I addressed a meeting of the Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament, and I have followed this up in recent weeks by meeting with influential MEPs in the European Parliament and with key interlocutors in the Commission and in the Council Secretariat.

In January of this year I had the pleasure of hosting a second visit to Ireland of the EU Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, during which I took the opportunity to outline Ireland's key priorities in the CAP reform negotiations, and in recent weeks I have met with my Finnish and Lithuanian counterparts.

I plan to continue these contacts over the coming months. As negotiations develop, and, particularly in the run-up to the Irish Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2013, I will continue to engage actively with Ministerial colleagues from other Member States, the Commissioner and Members of the European Parliament. My intention is to maintain and develop alliances with like-minded Member States to secure the best possible outcome for Ireland in the CAP reform negotiations.

I should add that my contacts at Ministerial level are supplemented by a parallel process of detailed engagement at official level by my Department with counterparts from the Commission, European Parliament and other Member States.