Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen has backed calls for a simplification of the rules and procedures involved in operating the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The Clare Fianna Fail T.D. was speaking following a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Brussels. He stated: “Proposals for simplification measures were made last May by a group consisting of Ireland and 12 other countries. In reviewing progress on these proposals, the Council agreed that while there had been useful work done, further efforts were needed. The Irish Government is now insisting that efforts to simply the rules and procedures are intensified, and I am delighted to see that there is strong agreement for this from other counties.”
Minister of State Killeen continued: “Officials will now continue the very detailed work involved in this and report to Ministers on a regular basis. In addition to this immediate work, I was also particularly pleased that a suggestion by my colleague Minister Brendan Smith that policy simplification should form a fundamental plank of our consideration of the shape of the CAP after 2013 was reflected by the Swedish chairman in concluding the debate. We need a simple EU agricultural policy – simple to justify to EU taxpayers, simple for farmers to understand and operate and simple for Member States to implement and enforce”.
Among the other issues considered at the meeting of Agriculture Ministers was the CAP after 2013, and in particular the Rural Development or “Pillar 2” aspects of the common policy. Pillar 1 of the CAP consists of the Single Farm Payment and market support measures.
Commenting on the agriculture elements of Rural Development, Minister Killeen said that the Irish Government supported a move towards supporting competitiveness and sustainability in our farming systems. “Measures which promote competitiveness will perform a pivotal role in encouraging efficiency and innovation in farming for the future. These measures are critical to the future of Irish and European farming and should be maintained and enhanced”, he concluded.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor:
– High-resolution images of Tony Killeen, Fianna Fail TD for Clare, and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with special responsibility for Forestry, Fisheries and the Marine, may be downloaded from www.dunphyprimages.com
– For further information please contact Mark Dunphy of Dunphy PR at [email protected] or 086-8534900
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