Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-304"
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"en.20001114.12.2-304"2
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"Mr President, first of all, it would be totally wrong of us to have come here tonight to either criticise the report or the Commission for coming forward with the proposal. I should like to thank the rapporteur for his report. It is the first time we have had a constructive debate on the problems that face the pig industry throughout the European Union – certainly in the eleven years I have been in this Parliament. I am not saying it is right, I am not saying I agree with it, but at least it is the first time we have had a constructive debate on the subject.
There is no doubt that pig farmers, regardless of where you come from, have faced the most difficult period possible. I have seen family farms go out of business; I have listened to farmers' wives wondering how they would survive because of the problems the industry was facing. The question I have to ask myself is very straightforward and simple: will this proposal help to alleviate their difficulty either in the short- or long-term? I have extremely serious reservations as to whether it can help the pig farmer in either the short term or long term. Co-financing is one aspect, but I have a horrible suspicion that would perhaps create an uneven playing field in many countries throughout the European Union.
I have to ask the Commissioner – because this is the one thing that might be useful for some of us – whether this proposal will be mandatory on the Member States? If it is implemented in every Member State then there is a degree of fairness. If it is not implemented throughout every Member State, then there will be unfairness. There will be the suspicion that producers in another Member State have an unfair advantage. Can the Commissioner answer that? Whether I will vote for or against depends on how he answers that.
Unfair competition must be avoided at all costs. Pigs have always had – as has been said by Mrs Keppelhoff-Wiechert – tremendous highs and lows in price. When the price has been high the producer has been doing well. When the price has been low then the family is not doing well. It is a question of balance.
This is the problem in the pig industry at the moment. Is the Commissioner going to address the same problem in the poultry industry, in mushrooms, in tomatoes, in other industries that will have some particular difficulty at some stage in the future? That is what we have to ask ourselves: can the common agricultural policy really cope with the challenges it faces at the present time?
While the policy is good, and while I pay tribute to it, we have to go back to the drawing board. We have to look at it again. We have to have further consultation and greater cooperation to find a way in which we can come forward with a proposal rather than asking the hard-pressed producers at the moment to pay for something that they cannot afford. Let us look at how we can best support the industry in the longer-term."@en1
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