Farm leaders from across Europe converged in Strasbourg last night prior to today's formal session to discuss a radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The European Parliament, anxious to show that it has some teeth in the European democratic system, is poised to put the proposals of the Agriculture Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, to the utmost scrutiny.
It is thought parliament would like to delay the process put in place by Mr Fischler which would simplify EU farm payments into one annual payment which would not be linked to any form of production.
France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have serious misgivings with this proposal.
They fear that it may put the farming population of Europe in serious difficulty in years to come when European taxpayers will ask why farmers are being paid direct payments for non-production.
At the parliamentary session later today, the Agriculture Committee will put forward 14 amendments which are non-binding and would have a major impact on the mainstay of the proposals, the decoupling issue.
The committee has proposed a partial decoupling, which would see "partial" rather than full decoupling of farm subsidies from production.
It wants this partial decoupling to refer to only two sectors, arable crops and beef, to avoid the possibility of farmers totally abandoning their land in less favoured regions, increasing the risk of regional disparities.
While the draft resolution does not specify what percentage of the aid should be decoupled, it is hoping that today's debate will indicate just how strong opposition is to the proposal.
The amendments will also seek to protect dairy farmers by ensuring that farmers who receive less than €7,500 per year should not be hit by the Fischler proposal to cut market supports for dairy products.
The main Irish farm organisations are opposed to the Fischler reforms. Only one of the farm organisations supports the proposals, which are being rejected by the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association.
The parliament will also discuss the "Irish Box" in fisheries, and efforts will be made by the parliament to limit the damage which would be caused in the area from overfishing.