I understand that the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, in particular, have been resisting any increase to the CAP budget. I ask the Minister about his approach in his engagement with those countries at EU level? On the existing proposals which have been published, which involve a 4% cut, what is the view of those countries to those proposals? Are they accepting that as a baseline or are they contesting it?
Furthermore, on being able to build a coalition, which will need to include those countries because unanimity is required to get to a situation where there is no cut to the final CAP budget, what is the Minister's position on his legal engagement with other European countries on that?
On the overall European Union budget, if there is an increased allocation from member states to that, there is no guarantee that will go towards the CAP budget. I ask the Minister to outline his engagement with other countries to ensure that any budget increase is directed at CAP. What is the status of the Minister's consultations with them in that regard?