Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-15-Speech-1-051"
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"en.20000515.3.1-051"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, adoption of the 2000/2001 agricultural price package involves a commitment to save EUR 300 million from the agriculture budget and to use the appropriations released for reconstruction work in Kosovo. In this context the report rightly points out that the Commission ought to submit a general document on this to Parliament, in the form of a concrete plan, before further austerity proposals can be accepted. Without a doubt, the issue of funding the whole reform package plays a decisive role.
What I do not find satisfactory in this process, however, is the fact that we always speak first of reducing expenditure and revenue while at the same time transferring ever more tasks to the Commission, which, of course, does not reduce costs either. Up until 2006 the Commission should work on the basis of the realistic targets set and should deduce its financial needs from them. As a result of Agenda 2000, European farmers had to accept a EUR 5 billion reduction in their income. This meant that the agriculture budget was fixed at EUR 50.5 billion and it should stay as such.
To achieve its objectives, the Commission should, in my view, be invited to present a report showing how costs have changed in the agricultural sector. Today, more deals are concluded in a second than used to be in an entire day and change is the only constant. Agricultural prices change particularly quickly. In the EU in 1999, the prices of crop products fell by 4% and livestock products by 6%. As a result of excessive over-production, pig prices fell by 9%. All the important agricultural products such as milk, beef, cereals and pork are suffering from increased turbulence on the world’s foreign exchanges, reducing farmers’ incomes still further. That is why we are still far from answering the question of how European Union farmers should make a living in the future. In the saturated marketplace, only products produced economically can be sold. The price reductions will destroy farmers’ livelihoods in Europe and thus temporarily ease the pressure on the market.
Following this structural change the agricultural holdings which have been able to survive will further increase their output and wield even greater power on the world market. Another price war will lead to a new round of market redistribution. Further developments will show whether the reform of the EU’s agricultural policy by means of Agenda 2000 is capable of achieving its overall aims or not."@en1
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