Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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472. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the existing CAP budget will be maintained; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51383/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The European Commission has proposed, as part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021 - 2027, an approximate cut of 5% to the CAP budget post-2020. The proposed cut is unacceptable for Ireland and I have used every opportunity in the course of discussions on the CAP post-2020 to call for the budget to be maintained.

While final agreement on the MFF proposals is ultimately a matter for Heads of State and Government to decide upon, I have been working very hard with my Agriculture Ministerial colleagues in an effort to build and maintain momentum around the need to have a strong CAP budget post 2020.

At the October Agri Fish Council, I joined with sixteen of my colleagues in reiterating the call we made in Madrid in mid-2018 for the post-2020 CAP budget to be maintained at current levels. In addition, at the last Agri-Fish Council in November, I again made the point during a discussion on environmental and climate-related aspects that higher levels of climate ambition have to be matched by a strong CAP budget post-2020. These follow other similar calls that I have made at previous Council meetings on the matter.

I have also discussed the matter on a number of occasions with the previous Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, and I intend to continue these discussions with the new Commissioner for Agriculture, Janus Wojciechowski, at the earliest possible opportunity.

I will continue these efforts as the negotiations on the post-2020 CAP and on the future budget intensify over the coming months.