Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-10-Speech-4-041"
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"en.20030410.3.4-041"2
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"Mr President, it is not the big international companies that are suffering during the coffee crisis. On the contrary, it is those who are putting such pressure on prices that farmers are scarcely earning anything from the coffee they produce.
How can they get away with it? At a meeting in the European Parliament to debate the coffee crisis, Louis Belinda from Uganda gave the following answer. ‘We have no alternative to coffee growing,’ he said. ‘We have given fisheries a try, but EU regulations prevented that. We have experimented with traditional agriculture, but EU exports of meat and milk at dumping prices mean that we cannot even sell our goods to other African countries. We have had a go with sugar, but the EU’s export subsidy did not give us a chance.’
It is, then, not true, Commissioner Liikanen, that everything but arms solves the problem, for the EU’s agricultural policy destroys coffee growers’ ability to diversify into other forms of work. The EU is therefore largely responsible for the fact that 25 million coffee growers are now threatened with extreme poverty, all the more so because the EU itself gave the developing countries the fatal advice to pin their hopes on coffee production. The EU must and shall fulfil its responsibilities in this area. The Development Fund has a surplus of DKK 7 500 million, so why does the EU hesitate to act while the coffee growers go hungry?
Mr Wijkman had a solution involving mushrooms. I think that idea sounded very interesting, and I hope the Commission will look into it.
The coffee growers must, however, be guaranteed a minimum income here and now. That could happen by subsidising institutions such as the Max Havelaar one, but the EU should also, as quickly as possible, increase the coffee producers’ own influence on the market by strengthening their negotiating capacity – through supporting the development of cooperatives – and by giving them the opportunity to come up with better products and to be given access to credits.
It is quite immoral that the international coffee giants can be allowed to exploit the crisis in order further to increase their surpluses, which are already too high.
I should also like some answers to the questions put by Mrs Kinnock."@en1
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