European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has announced that he is considering extending the period for submission of applications under the CAP, which is currently May 15, following requests from Members States, including Ireland.
While the new application deadlines have not yet been confirmed, the move has been warmly welcomed by the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney. He said an additional period will take some of the pressure off farmers who are coming to grips with the extensive changes in the CAP.
“We have asked for early clarification of the new application deadlines and that this extension should apply to Pillar I and to Pillar II schemes,” he added.
The Minister was attending the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels where discussions included proposals on organic farming which aim to review the existing legislation on organic production and labelling of organic products, the market situation and trends in the milk sector and implementation and simplification of the CAP.
A lunchtime discussion focussed on developments in International Trade negotiations.
Speaking in Brussels on the current situation in the milk market, Minister Coveney said the long-term fundamentals of the global dairy market are strong and intact and the EU dairy sector is well placed to gain from the opportunity.
“In Ireland we are counting down with great optimism and enthusiasm to the expiry of milk quotas in 15 days from now. In a global market, volatility will be a fact of life, but addressing market imbalances that arise will remain an EU wide issue which will require an EU wide response,” he said.