Proinsias De Rossa
Ceist:92 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make a statement on the position of the negotiations on proposals from the EU Commission for reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. [18411/98]
Vol. 494 No. 4
92 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make a statement on the position of the negotiations on proposals from the EU Commission for reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. [18411/98]
The Commission's detailed proposals for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy were published on 18 March 1998. A special meeting of the Council of Ministers was convened on 31 March 1998 to enable Ministers to put forward their initial reactions to the proposals. At that meeting, I informed the Commissioner and my colleagues in the Council of the economic significance of the Irish interests that would be affected by the proposals and told them that the proposals were seriously damaging to Irish agriculture and the Irish economy and that, consequently, Ireland rejected them in their present form.