Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-30-Speech-4-016"
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"en.20030130.1.4-016"2
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"Mr President, the European Commission’s Everything But Arms initiative was and is an important breakthrough that enables the poorest countries to gain access to the European market without quantitative or tariff barriers.
Unfortunately this proposal was seriously toned down for rice and sugar at the time and was postponed following pressure by the European sugar industry and sugar-producing countries. It is still important to realise that a country like Mozambique, which was completely dependent on food from elsewhere as a result of an endless civil war, is now able to provide her own food thanks to good internal distribution. This has to do with the construction of water systems, good environmental management and the participation of local farmers. With external help, the local systems were repaired after the floods. In short, a success story.
The link with European agricultural protectionism is nevertheless very distressing in this case as well. Under normal circumstances, Mozambique would earn as much from her sugar production on the world market as she now receives in international aid. The situation is not normal, however, as consumer prices are artificially high in Europe, and are therefore ruining the world market. This naturally requires a restructuring of our industry, including a social plan. Our refusal to break through our protectionism structurally undermines poor countries’ own food supplies. It is complete lunacy if the final stage in this vicious circle of hunger consists of dumping our surpluses on the markets we have already undermined through low world market prices. We must continue to buy from the regions themselves as an absolute priority, even if the price is slightly higher.
In short, our proposals to turn Doha into a development round require more than the current Commission proposals. The Commission has proposed cutting export subsidies by 45%, but in Doha we were talking about abolition. Forty-five per cent is only a start, and things must go a lot faster. A one-third cut in tariffs is not enough either, and the Commission’s proposal to get tariffs on agricultural imports from developing countries down to zero must go further than just half of these imports. This is of great importance when it comes to bridging the gap between the developed and the developing world.
It goes without saying that good governance, a good regional agricultural policy that does not throw everything into exports but concentrates first on local self-sufficiency coupled with regional trade, are likewise indispensable. The help of the EU is very important in this regard. Europe now gives with the one hand and takes away with the other. Protectionism. It is high time Europe started making a difference and really started cooperating with these countries."@en1
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