Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-03-Speech-4-162"
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"en.20030703.9.4-162"2
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"Commissioner, I asked the Commission to provide this explanation because I was so shocked at the fine that you wish to impose on French farming unions. It punishes the unions twice: firstly you punish a sector for its ability to demonstrate initiative, which enabled it to provide assistance for coping with a quite exceptional crisis. You then threaten the very existence of the unions, because the size of the fine is greater than their budget.
The French beef industry employs 200 000 farmers, whose average income is less than EUR 8 000 per year. In the autumn of 2001, prices fell by more than 45% whereas the price of beef for consumption continued, paradoxically, to rise. Furthermore, there was no sign of any European solidarity and the French market was saturated by consignments of meat at giveaway prices arriving from other Member States.
In this context of exceptional crisis, there was no longer even a market. French farming unions decided, with the agreement of the French Minister for Agriculture and of his Ministry, to set a minimum price. This price was so low that it allowed for no profit margin at all. There is no way that it was a secret agreement because, on the very evening on which the agreement was signed, the French unions held a press conference. Despite what one reads in the press, therefore, this was not the setting-up of a cartel; it was instead an act of solidarity to prevent the disappearance of one aspect of farm production: high-quality beef.
If Europe had not failed in its task of ensuring market stability, French farmers would not have needed to take over from it. In an exceptional crisis, exceptional measures are needed.
To conclude, Commissioner, I should like to ask you a few questions. Can you specify what measures the Commission took and can you tell me why these measures failed? Did you really understand the depth of farmers’ concern and the risk that a high-quality sector might disappear? Can you tell me on what basis you set the fine at EUR 16.7 million, a figure that I believe is astronomical? Do you not think that the Commission’s position runs counter to the principle of setting a minimum price? Lastly, do you not think that in a context in which the farming unions have asked the European Court of Justice to arbitrate, the Commission should try to calm the situation, given the circumstances, by withdrawing these penalties?"@en1
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