Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-142"
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"en.20031216.4.2-142"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by complimenting the rapporteurs, in particular Mr Mulder, and I will confine my brief remarks to the agricultural budget.
The current figures in proposed agricultural spending amount to over EUR 40 billion for the enlarged EU of 25 next year. This is a vast amount of public money. I am aware that there are many critics of the European Union's common agricultural policy, which continues to receive more than half the annual budget. I have consistently defended this policy and believe it has been one of the most successful common policies operated by the Community since its foundation. From the beginning, the CAP was always about far more than products and markets: it was, and is, about people and communities. Critics of the CAP seem to lose sight of this. The second pillar is about rebuilding rural communities and restoring urban/rural balance.
The critics also lose sight of, or choose to ignore, the series of major reforms which the CAP has undergone over the past decade, culminating in this year's Luxembourg accord. I very much welcome the direction in which the CAP has evolved. The future is in a multifunctional agriculture which serves social, environmental and consumer needs.
Farmers continue to raise doubts about the continuity of budget support for family farming. In many respects this is an unnecessary waste of energy. With budget stability to 2013, I suggest they use this period to replan their farming practices, to become more efficient and use the opportunities of recent reform to meet the challenges and opportunities which the future holds."@en1
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