Agriculture Minister: CAP talks with Hungary and Poland constructive

HUNGARY and Poland, who will each hold the six-month European Union rotating presidency in 2011, have been briefed on Ireland’s stance on the Common Agricultural Policy.

A blueprint for the reform of the CAP after 2013 is due to be published by the European Commission in November and is expected to dominate much of the discussions in the Council of Agricultural Ministers for much of next year.

As part of a series of meetings with colleagues in other member states, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith travelled to Budapest and Warsaw this week for discussions with his Hungarian and Polish counterparts. He outlined Ireland’s views on the CAP to Hungarian Rural Development Minister Sandor Fazekas in Budapest and to Poland’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Marek Sawicki in Warsaw.