Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-10-Speech-4-042"
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"en.20050310.3.4-042"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, it is hardly surprising that there should be such strong feelings about the proposed reform of the sugar market. Firstly, it affects sectors crucial to the further development of the food industry, for which sugar is one of the main raw materials. The three-fold increase in its price makes it difficult for this industry to develop and compete on the world market.
A second important aspect of this reform is the need to regulate one of the most prized European Union initiatives, namely assistance to the poorest countries, for whom sugar is a major export and source of income. The Everything But Arms programme is a relevant example.
The third and most important aspect of the proposed reform is its impact on agriculture within the Union. This is particularly true in the case of my country, Poland, which is the third largest sugar producer. Implementation of the reform and an unrestricted transfer of quotas is likely to lead to production being concentrated in plants in countries that benefited from Union support in the past. This could well mean the end of sugar production in Poland, with the loss of several hundred thousand jobs. It would also make it necessary to import two million tonnes of sugar a year.
Mr Daul’s and Mr Fruteau’s motion for a resolution contains many good ideas. It also points out to the Commission the need to achieve a compromise between the three factors mentioned, yet the Commission, by issuing the document in its present form, seems to wish to impact on the social structure of our electorate, including farmers, consumers and producers. Disputes are bound to ensue, and this at a time when the whole of Europe is engaged in debating the European Constitution and voting on it. The Commission must draft a new document to help both Brazilian farmers and farmers in the new Member States. The latter might well be feeling cheated, because the goalposts are being moved in the course of the game, as was the case for the budget. Alternative solutions such as the production of biofuels or cereals are needed for those likely to lose out. It is time for all interested parties, politicians included, to sit down together at the negotiating table. In particular, politicians need to explain to their electorate why they are proposing to deprive them of something they had spent so many years getting them used to."@en1
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