Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-14-Speech-4-139"
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"en.20050414.23.4-139"2
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"Mr President, I should like to begin by thanking the Commissioner for his speech and for the Commission’s openness in relation to the difficult situation that Portugal is currently enduring. As you know, there is a severe drought in my country at the moment, which is especially acute in the regions of the south of the country.
Mr President, I should like to express my gratitude for the displays of solidarity and support from all Members to whom I have had the opportunity to explain the situation. I should also like to say how pleased I am to have had the opportunity to table this joint proposal, endorsed by the main political groups in Parliament.
We are at the start of a new dry season in Portugal, after almost no rainfall in autumn and winter, which is normally the country’s rainy season. In some regions, ground water levels are less than 20% of the average of the past 40 years. Consequently, all stocks of animal feed have run out, and, given that neither grazing land nor arable farmland has been growing, and that the use already in reservoirs is still restricted, it will not be possible to deliver new supplies in sufficient quantities for next autumn and winter. Furthermore, it will be necessary to feed cattle until spring of next year, in view of the fact that normal rainfall is expected next autumn.
This situation is utterly unbearable for both arable and livestock farmers and justifies a swift Commission response to the requests put forward by the Portuguese Government, which will have a negligible impact on the Community budget. After all, as Mr Borg rightly pointed out, the request is for advance payments and derogations from the rules of various regulations that would, in such circumstances, be impossible to comply with, whereby farmers will not be penalised, and for the granting of state aid to be authorised, especially for small farmers.
Nevertheless, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Portugal should constitute a warning for the future. We must therefore consider medium- and long-term solutions to this type of problem, such as setting up a protection system for safeguarding European farmers against risks and crises – a timely debate was held recently by the Commission on this issue – and, on a broader scale, reinforcing the Union’s role at the forefront of international efforts to address climate change and presenting practical proposals for strategic action beyond 2012.
I feel that in the short time I have had at my disposal, I have provided sufficient reason for Parliament to give this motion for a resolution its overwhelming support. I therefore call on you to vote in favour, secure in the knowledge that, as the Commissioner just said, the Commission will be taking the matter seriously."@en1
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