Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-16-Speech-2-176"
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, when we realise that 55% of European farmers are over 55 years old and only 23% are less than 44 years old, we must inevitably conclude that the future of farming in the European Union is under threat. The situation is even more serious in my own country, where these figures are 66% and 15% respectively. In the mid-1980s, the CAP began changing in order to improve measures for direct control of production with the aim of preventing surpluses and guaranteeing the stability of prices and incomes.
However, the other side of the coin as regards opting for stability in this way has been less flexibility in access to farming, which particularly penalises young farmers, first of all because of the difficulty in gaining access to quotas, production or premium rights. Secondly, young farmers are penalised as a result of increases in land prices due to the increase in value created by the quota systems. Furthermore, it is well known that many Member States have not implemented measures that in any way address the concerns of young farmers. I shall give the example of my own country where, after an initial phase of enthusiasm when we joined the EU, in recent years we have become more sceptical and the activities of the organisations most representative of young farmers have even been penalised.
For this reason we must, as a matter of urgency, adopt certain fundamental measures which are, in fact, in line with the rapporteur’s proposals. These are, specifically, to create special reserves for quotas and production rights solely for young farmers, to increase support for setting up a first farm and investment in farm properties, to establish a special scheme for low-interest loans to supplement other investment aid, to establish conditions for the proper functioning of an early retirement scheme for older farmers, which will speed up the process of renewal and, of course, to adopt training and information measures.
The Commission must now urgently table proposals for measures for action and the Council must adopt them. Unless this happens, we will be taking an irresponsible attitude that will put the continuity of farming in Europe, with all that this means for our culture, at risk.
To conclude, I wish to thank Neil Parish for his outstanding work on this report."@en1
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