Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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347. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of recent CAP reform discussions at recent EU Agriculture Council meetings with respect to current European tools for price intervention in the dairy sector; and if a potential review of intervention prices which should reflect average production costs was discussed. [40683/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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On 1 June 2018, the Commission published its proposals for the CAP post-2020. The proposals included a Regulation to amend a number of existing Regulations, including (EU) No. 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products.

Key proposed amendments to the current CMO Regulation include recalculating aid for the school milk schemes; moving articles dealing with sectoral interventions and the crisis reserve into the new CAP Strategic Plan Regulation; delete obsolete provisions applying to the sugar sector and export refunds; and, amendments relevant to the wine and olive oil sectors. The Commission's proposal does not suggest any changes to the market interventions such as public intervention or aid for private storage.

At the Agri-Fish Council in November 2018, Agriculture Ministers held a policy debate on the current market support measures and their effectiveness in previous years. While there were differing views, on the basis of discussions, it was determined that many Member States did not wish to seek major changes in the CMO Regulation.

From Ireland's perspective, I welcome the Commission proposals as it maintains the current suite of market interventions. It is important that we maintain a strong framework to underpin market stability and protect producers.

Discussions on market support measures have not taken place at the Agri-Fish Council since November last year. The Finnish Presidency considers the proposed amending CMO Regulation to be broadly stable, with the exception of further technical discussions to take place on wine labelling issues. Further discussions on the CMO proposals have not been scheduled at this time.