Vol. 556 No. 5
71 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the policy papers which were prepared relating to CAP reform, WTO and other international issues since 1 January 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20670/02]
The preparation of policy papers on matters such as CAP reform and WTO is an integral part of the work of my Department. Policy papers on such issues are prepared, for example, in advance of relevant meetings of the EU Council of Ministers, bilateral meetings with other member states and interdepartmental co-ordination meetings. In addition to this continuous process, policy papers of a once-off nature prepared since 1 January 2000 include the following: implications for Irish agriculture of (i) Agenda 2000 reviews (ii) WTO negotiations and (iii) direct payments to new member states; WTO negotiations and their Implications for the CAP; the impact of enlargement on the EU budget; modulation of direct payments; decoupling of direct payments (preliminary results of study commissioned from FAPRI Ireland: (final papers awaited); implementation and operational aspects of Commission's decoupling proposals; and report on eco-friendly farming.
