Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-03-Speech-2-191"
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"en.20030603.6.2-191"2
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"Commissioner, you are right when you say that we are discussing reforming the CAP at last, but your reform is not the kind of reform we need, still less so
if we call for its impact to be reduced, as Parliament seems to be doing. Your reform does not get to the heart of the CAP issue, which is the scandalous fact that the European Union is continuing and intends to continue in the future to tie up half its budget in subsidies and agricultural protection in order to protect a sector which represents 2% of the European Union’s GDP. We constantly talk about the Lisbon objectives, about making the European Union the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. How do we think that this objective can be in any way achievable when half of our budget is being used to protect and subsidise agricultural production?
CAP reform cannot be based on the interests of farmers; the focus must be on the interests of the European Union, on the interests of all the citizens and all the consumers who are paying 70% more for milk than they would on an open market free of subsidies; who are paying 220% more for meat while their Argentine cousins are starving to death or, if not dying, are suffering the effects of an economic recession because we are preventing them from exporting their meat to Europe; who are paying 90% more for sugar while Mozambique is unable to achieve economic recovery because of European protectionism.
The example of New Zealand is significant, although it is a small country. After the total elimination of subsidies and agricultural protection, the contribution of farming to GDP rose, employment rose, particularly among young farmers, and quality improved. Even if we talk about protecting the environment and marginal and mountainous areas, if we continue to call for half of the Community budget to be channelled into protecting and subsidising the production and export of European farm products regardless then that is something else altogether. We are denying ourselves the chance of reaching an agreement on the major WTO trade agreements and, most importantly, we are continuing to harm the European citizens, consumers and taxpayers. This is the truth, and reform seeking to dismantle the CAP must be placed on the agenda as soon as possible."@en1
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