Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-09-Speech-2-374"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040309.14.2-374"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner Fischler, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to say that I will limit myself to a general issue since we have rapporteurs for each product who will, therefore, each elaborate on a particular issue. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development reached a compromise agreement on 19 February 2004 within the framework of the project on the reform of the common agricultural policy for tobacco, olive oil, cotton and hops.
We are not losing sight of the fact that this is about adopting a single European Commission regulation, which will amend the principle of the single payment scheme. A global agreement needs to be reached and not independent agreements for each sector. The whole of the negotiation process is interdependent. The Commission and the Council have the ambitious goal of reaching an overall agreement very quickly. As Commissioner Fischler said, we must not have a legal vacuum, especially in the tobacco sector.
The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development considered that the principle of decoupling aid, as proposed by the Commission, can only apply if several external elements are also taken into consideration, particularly the fluctuation and development of international agricultural prices as well as the very marked contrast between internal and external prices.
The agricultural policy for Mediterranean products must move towards supporting the work of small farmers and family farming and protecting the number of jobs – hundreds of thousands of them – in rural areas. Any plan for reform must present all the possible alternatives to guarantee the future for farmers and affected regions, and must take into account the social importance as well as the different production situations in the Member States. The members of this Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development have shown their preference for a greater appropriation of agricultural funds for the market aimed at measures for rural development in order to improve, in particular, the environment and quality production.
Assuming that a significant number of farmers decide to cease production and receive subsidies, the fact of granting agricultural aid independent of production should not in any case increase territorial problems and create an imbalance between different sectors. On the contrary, the principle of partial decoupling should allow for more equal remuneration for all farmers and for all production by applying the principle of multifunctionality. Partial decoupling at a production level is to allow for evolution rather than revolution in our Mediterranean regions.
The European agricultural model must be supported. Europe needs its farmers and needs to support the population in its rural areas. We must protect the interests of our farmers at World Trade Organisation level. As recent budgets for the United States show, US agriculture will once again benefit from a substantial increase. Follow their example, Commissioner! I would add that this substantial increase is expected.
We know that your work in the Commission is not easy, but we know your common sense and your pragmatic nature, so we ask you to agree to the compromise proposal, which is a good one, put to you in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples