Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his proposal on internal convergence is still on the table for the Common Agricultural Policy negotiations; if this proposal has been modified; if so, the way it has been modified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21465/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that the proposal on internal convergence I made to the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers at the March meeting of the Council was accepted by Ministers as one of the options that should be available for the distribution of direct payments. As such it forms part of the General Approach of the Council agreed at that meeting.

This issue is now the subject of further negotiations between the three EU institutions in the trilogues process. In this regard both the EU Commission and the European Parliament have their own views and the reality is that the final outcome will be somewhere between the original Commission proposal and the Irish proposal. However, the important point is that the Irish model is at the centre of the negotiations, and I will be working to ensure that the final outcome is as close as possible to this model.