 I'm very pleased to welcome everyone to the seminar today at the IIEA. My name is Tom Arnold, and I have the honor of moderating this session. The title of which is the future of the EU's common agricultural policy. And our guest speaker today, we're delighted to have Commissioner Janus, which is said to be a European commissioner for agriculture. I just want to set down a few housekeeping rules before we start. Both the comments and the Q&A session are on the record. Guests who want to submit questions should do so via the Q&A function on Zoom. And in submitting questions, we would ask guests to identify themselves and their affiliation before asking the speaker a question. We encourage guests to tweet using the handle at IIEA. What we are doing today is noting the fact that in June 2021, the EU agreed a new common agricultural policy which aims to make European agriculture fairer, greener, and more sustainable in the context of the EU's green deal and farm to fork objectives. The commissioner will address the IIEA to outline the future of the cap, what the changes may mean for European farmers, citizens, firms, animals, and the planet, and what a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable cap entails. Commissioner Wajoski has been European commissioner for agriculture since December 2019 as part of President van der Leyen's commission. Before joining the commission, he was a member of the European Court of Auditors, served as an MEP in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2016, as well as an MP in the SIEM, the Polish Parliament, representing Wajoski from 2001 to 2004. Before entering politics, the commissioner was a judge in Poland, including on the Polish Supreme Court, and was president of the Polish Supreme Audit Office from 1995 to 2001. He holds a master's in law from the University of Łódź in Poland. So it's with great pleasure commissioner, I invite you now to address us. Thank you very much, Mr. Gilmour. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to speak with you today. I'm sorry I cannot join you in doubling on this occasion, but hopefully I will have that pleasure soon. I know that agriculture is not only a central part of Ireland's economy, but also its history and heritage. I'd like to present you some key elements of the common agricultural policy reform and how it will shape the future of agriculture in Ireland and across the European Union. But firstly, I'd like because the many farmers and farmers representatives and representative of the food system, food sector, food production sector participating in this meeting. I'd like to thank you very much for your contribution for Irish farmers, Irish food processors, retailers for ensuring food security in European Union during this unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic. We have, we had partially we have the crisis, not finished, but there was a very serious health crisis, economy crisis, but fortunately it was not food crisis. We have, we had food available in which corner of Europe during this time and this is also the big contribution of the Irish farmers, that's 137,000 Irish farmers contributed to ensure the food security, and Irish production of milk is more than 4%, 4.5% of the whole European production, bovine production is more than 7% of the total European production. This is very important that thanks to our farmers, including the Irish farmers, we have food security in whole European Union called Europe for 460 million European citizens, European consumers. Thank you for that. There may be another information, which is important at the beginning of our meeting that is the budget. You remained that I started my, my work in the European Commission, the first of December, 2019. At the time we had on the table, the budgetary proposal proposed 2018 by the previous European Commission, Mr. Jürger Jürger Commission, the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy was at the time, 365 billion euro for seven years 2021-27. And there was a lot of concerns that it is not, not appropriate budget for the challenges which we have for our agriculture, for our farmers. Fortunately, the Madame von der Leyen Commission proposed the new proposal, increasing the first proposal, the first initial proposal, and finally we have the 22 billion euro more, the budget is 387 billion euro. Also for the, this is the good news for the Irish farmers because the first proposal was 10 billion euro for Irish farmers and finally we have 10.7, 10 billion 750 million euro, which is the good proposal for the Irish farmers and I'm happy that it was possible to achieve this increase of the budget, which is very important because we have very serious challenges for our food system for our farmers and including the island of course. A few words about the Common Agricultural Policy reform. As with most reforms I know that the new Common Agricultural Policy has attracted differences in opinion, for some the changes are not enough and for others the changes go too far. I understand that most farmers agree with the need for change, but many are concerned about how these changes will affect their life goals. I came from a farming background I understand how hard farmers work to feed their families to feed society, and to take care of their land. I also have a legal background and from my time serving as a judge, I'm used to listening to all sides of an argument and waging up the evidence before me. Waged up to evidence I believe that CAP reform is a good compromise. In response to the challenges facing agriculture for incomes to the environment, the new CAP aims to put forward solutions for greener, fairer and more modern systems of agriculture. It is now in the hands of Member States to prepare ambitious strategy plans that focus on delivering these solutions. I am glad to see that Minister Mac Conalong and the Irish government recently put forward a proposal for their plan. I am confident that they are moving in the right direction to secure a strong and sustainable future for Irish farming. I will repeat a message that I have shared with all national governments. It is vital that Member States follow a strategic approach. It must be based on evidence and analysis as well the views of experts, farmers and other stakeholders. The plans must also set targets using instruments provided in the legislation to address the main food and farming challenges of Member States. The Commission will review the plans once they have been formally submitted at the end of this year. We will assess whether the proposed strategies addressed the problems identified and if their ambitions can meet Green Deal targets. The Commission will take into account on the one hand the ambition of Member States in relation to their specific starting point and on the other hand the ambition in relation to the collective efforts by all Member States. In addition to guarantee a consistent approach, the Commission has prepared an assessment toolkit for the different elements of the CAP strategic plans. While this toolkit will assess many aspects, the key thing we will be looking for is how these plans intend to foster sustainable systems of agriculture. Sustainable is word is frequently used but also frequency misunderstood. In the new CAP, there are three pillars of sustainability, social, environmental and economic, like the leaves of shamrock, these three pillars are separate but connected. In terms of environmental sustainability, national strategy plans must include higher ambitions for climate, biodiversity and their natural resources, as well as animal welfare. In the first place, Member States must ensure their plan is fully consistent with environmental and climate legislation. And where this legislation is modified in the coming years, for example, in the case of climate legislation and the sustainable use of pesticides, the strategy plans must be updated accordingly. We have also invited Member States to set up national values to be achieved by 2030 as their contribution to the relevant green deal targets. This includes pesticide and antimicrobial reduction and the reduction of nutrient losses, as well as the expansion of organic agriculture, broadband coverage and landscape features. To meet these ambitions, Member States must put in place a clear strategy. This strategy will be built on a baseline of minimum conditions for environmental care, environmental care and animal welfare. As before, these conditions will be linked to the CAP payments but now the standards will be higher. Above this baseline, the new CAP will provide stronger support for farmers who take voluntary actions. At least 25% of income support will be dedicated to ecosystems, which will go towards practices that benefit the climate, environment, biodiversity and animal welfare. These areas will also benefit from at least 35% of rural development support directed from agri-environment and other relevant elements. I would like to stress that these voluntary measures must be used strategically. They must appeal to a wide base of farmers with a view to reaching high targets, the wider the base, the higher we can build. For example, Ireland has a wide base of dairy and beef farmers. While these sectors present sustainably challenges, Irish farmers have already shown their ability to produce with a lower carbon footprint. This should be further supported and advanced with ecosystems and rural development funding in areas such as precision, nitrogen and fertilizer application, agroforestry and extensive livestock production. Ecoschemes in these areas will recognize and reward the extra work put in by farmers to meet society demand for sustainable products. The Commission also intends to ensure that society recognizes and rewards farmers who work sustainably through consumer education, promotion and labeling under the Farm to Folks strategy. In this way, by taking advantage of CAP support for ecological practices, member states can put their farmers in a prime position to capture economic rewards. In economic terms, the new CAP maintains market orientation as a core principle, you farmers will continue to operate according to market signals while taking advantage of opportunities on the internal market as well as international trade. To ensure stability income support payments will also remain a core part of the policy. The father support support income resilience and new agricultural reserve will be introduced. The reserve will found markets measures in times of crisis with an annual budget of at least 450 million euro. The policy also reinforces the position of farmers in the food supply chain by expanding possibilities to join forces, including by means of certain exceptions from competition law. Member states can further strengthen the position of farmers by supporting shorter and more transparent supply chains. For instance, Irish farm produce is highly valued across the European Union for its quality, Irish farmers must get their fair share of this value under a just and transparent supply chain, allowing them to put money back into their farms, families and rural communities. With this mind, I'd like to highlight how the new CAP allows member states to target support to section sections of the farming community and who are vital of the social fabric of rural areas. For example, improving the fairness and effectiveness of income support for small and family farmers is a key priority of the CAP agreement. For this, the Commission has specifically created the redistributive income support tool for small farmers. Member states can also avail of the payment for small farmers and continue the internal convergence of basic income support. Additionally, the new legislation contains a mandatory but flexible definition of an active farmer to be established by member states, while stronger copying of the highest CD payments is also possible. Member states must show how they will use these tools as a part of clear strategy for fairer system of agriculture. For example, I am glad to see that convergence and copying have both been proposal as part of the Irish strategy plan. If you watch about the social conditionality, the farm workers are another group who will see real benefits from the new CAP. For the first time, the CAP will link payments to workers' rights to decent conditions. Farmers have to provide their workers with a written description of the agreed working conditions and must ensure a safe and healthy working environment. When farmers are found to be in breach of these rules, their CAP payments can be reduced. Member states have also the chance to support young farmers and women farmers. A minimum 3% of the direct payment budget must go to young farmers, while member states must demonstrate how they will support women farmers in daily strategy plan. I am glad to see that Ireland has already proposed targeted support towards women farmers. Supporting these groups of the farming community goes hand in hand with the rural development goals of the CAP and contributes to the long term vision for rural areas recently launched by the commission. I hope you can see that I have covered all three pillars of sustainability and I hope you can see how they are interconnected. I have already pointed out how we must work strategically to build each of these pillars. We must also work with intelligence and innovation in their CAP plans. Each member states will have to set out a strategy for stimulating innovation and modernization. To reach their targets, member states must capitalize on advances in innovation, technology and digital solutions, such as precision farming. Not only will these advances encourage sustainability, they will also lead to higher productivity and reduce inputs for farmers, thereby lowering costs. Member states can support the uptake of new advances by developing stronger farm advisory system. Finally, let me stress that we must work together. The challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the European Union will not only be addressed from the common agricultural policy but also with the contribution of different new funds, including the European structural and investment funds, 2127 and the recovery and resilience facility. We will not only be addressed by European policies and actions but also by all our authorities and actors at national, regional and local levels. I welcome the efforts of Minister Conalogue to speak with farmers and stakeholders across the country. And finally, the challenges will not only be addressed by farmers but by everyone along the food chain as citizens, we must support our farmers in their efforts to provide with us sustainable food. So let me conclude by saying that I look forward to continuing the work. I believe there is a great potential in Ireland and the European Union as a whole to became leaders in sustainable food production and for our farmers to reap the benefits. As I mentioned at the beginning I hope to visit Ireland soon and to see the work of Irish farmers firsthand. I was told that when I visit Ireland, the most important work must learn slancha. I'm not sure about my pronunciation. In Poland we say nazdrowie. So I will conclude by saying slancha and nazdrowie to the health of our food, our environment and our farmers in Ireland and across European Union. Thank you very much.