Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed continued his relationship-building with his opposite numbers in Luxembourg on Monday as he works to build alliances with countries that share at least some common interests with Ireland on Brexit.

Among the meetings he had was with the UK agriculture minister and strong pro-Brexit advocate George Eustice, the Luxembourg minister Fernand Etgen and Austria’s Andrä Rupprechter.

Commissioner Hogan was also included on Monday’s meeting schedule and Minister Creed has now met with eight of his counterparts over the past month, including the series of engagements he had over St Patrick’s weekend.

Exposure

The Minister has undertaken this series of meetings to emphasise Ireland’s unique exposure to Brexit and to help shape the negotiation accordingly.

“I have sought to establish common ground with member states who share similar exposure, be it from a food exports or fisheries perspective, in order to help shape future negotiations on such matters,” the Minister said after the meetings.

CAP

The big-ticket items at council on Monday were the simplification process of the CAP on which the Commissioner presented to agriculture ministers. Brazil was also on the agenda and Commissioner Andriukaitis, who is the commissioner with responsibility for health and food safety, reported on his visit to Brazil last week and the meeting with the Brazilian agriculture minister.

He is due to give a report to a meeting of the EU Parliament this evening in Strasbourg, where a question has been tabled by the chair of the Parliament’s Agriculture Committee Czeslaw Adam Siekierski.

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