Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-295"
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"en.20001114.12.2-295"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this evening we are going to be debating the situation of the pig industry and its COM, which has proved to be totally unsuitable in the face of the latest crisis which has just arisen.
Between 1998 and 2000, production surged disproportionately, with an increase of 20 million head of pigs, reaching an annual total of 205 million pigs slaughtered in the European Union. This was accompanied by a 30% collapse in prices with its trail of consequences, which some producers, especially the young and those heavily in debt, often could not withstand. Having been made bankrupt, some breeders had no option but to change social status by becoming mere employees of cooperative or private farms, whilst continuing to work on their former holdings. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, that is not the interpretation of the European agricultural model that the European Union wishes to project internationally.
Quite clearly, in the light of the objectives contained in Regulation (EEC) No 2759/75, as amended, one conclusion has emerged, and that is that the tools of the pigmeat sector COM, including private storage aid and export refunds, are unsuitable and inadequate. We have private storage aid, which is of less interest to operators now that it is being implemented in the context of a structural crisis, and export refunds, which are always useful, but which are dependent on international agreements which impose increasingly stringent restrictions. It is necessary, therefore, to come up with new instruments to guard against a serious crisis re-emerging despite a high level of internal consumption and good use of export opportunities.
The ongoing improvement of the productivity of pig producers is already generating a growth in supply and if this were to be accompanied by the unlimited extension of the apparatus of production, it would inevitably result, once again, in a serious imbalance in the market. The last crisis has taught us that the markets are now much slower to recover as, for the most part, specialised breeders maintain their overall production while waiting for better days to come.
Ladies and gentlemen, under these conditions, the problem concerns less the future of production than the future of producers. That is why it is imperative that the European Union is equipped with flexible instruments to prevent and manage crises in the pig industry.
Accordingly, the Commission has proposed incorporating a new tool into the COM: regulatory funds. The idea is a good one, certainly, but, as its application is optional for Member States and producers and it does not provide any suitable solutions for breeders in a period of crisis in return for the freeze on output it demands, it is of little interest. In its present form, it would most probably be ineffectual.
That is why, fully aware of the extent of the problem, on the basis of my report the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development introduced amendments to make this proposal more attractive and more effective. These amendments introduce measures intended to make it possible to draw up reliable forecasts for the market based on thorough assessment of the means of production; to establish regulatory funds in all Member States, supported by Community
aid, so that any pig producer in the European Union, whether breeder or fattener, who wants to join can do so in return for a commitment to stabilise output for five years; to establish conditions for the cofinancing of these funds by producers or their producer associations and by the European Union in order to encourage producers to join; to adjust the aid payments from these funds during periods of crisis and finally, to commit Member States to adopting, together with the Commission, the measures which appear to them to be best suited to restoring the balance of the markets in the event of a crisis. This effort to firm up the market must take into account developments in production in each Member State and must have a bearing on producers who do not join the regulatory funds.
Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, these are the solutions advocated by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. We are convinced that these measures are such as to prevent crises in the pig industry, or indeed to manage them if by any chance they were to recur. By using instruments which are flexible, complementary and hence indissociable, and at a reasonable cost for the European Union, we should accept the fact that we can make the future less problematic for our producers."@en1
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