Minister for Agriculture Food & Marine, Michael Creed TD, today (Wednesday) met with key members of the European Parliament during a visit to this week’s plenary session in Strasbourg. MEP’s the Minister met included the Chair of the Committee on Agriculture & Rural development, Mr Czeslaw Adam Siekierski (Poland), Chair of the Committee on International Trade, Mr Bernd Lange (Germany), Chair of the Committee on Fisheries, Mr  Alain Cadec (France) and the Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt. Minister Creed also held a meeting with Irish MEP’s from all parties.

Commenting on his visit to the Parliament, Minister Creed said;

“Today’s visit provided a useful opportunity to discuss a range of priorities for Ireland’s Agri-food and fisheries sectors with key leaders in the European Parliament.  The main items of discussion centred on Brexit, our concerns regarding the Mercosur trade talks and the future of the Common Agriculture Policy post 2020. Given the diverse composition of the European Parliament this was a timely moment to reiterate our positions on these key issues with important influencers in EU politics. 

Concluding the Minister noted;

“I also took the opportunity to brief Irish MEP’s on the Government’s work in terms of Brexit and CAP. We are in the midst of a public consultation on CAP at present therefore it was valuable to hear the views of MEP’s on the matter.”

 END

Date Released: 07 February 2018