Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-06-Speech-1-139"
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"en.20050606.17.1-139"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking in return the Commission, all the members of the Committee, all the Groups, and especially the Council, the secretariats, all their staff and all those who helped them do the groundwork, for working together so well. It was good to produce this report together.
Over half the population of the European Union lives in rural areas, which account for around 90% of its territory. We all want to make the regions with their towns and villages active and attractive and to keep them that way and give rural areas a bright future – I am very pleased to see you have now arrived, Commissioner – and a flourishing and above all productive agriculture and forestry is the most important prerequisite for this.
The 2003 reform of the common agricultural policy introduced lasting changes in European agriculture and forestry. Rural development has assumed even greater importance as this reform has progressed. This report contains the 2007–2013 programming period for rural development. I was particularly concerned to keep to the timetable for the vote here in plenary so that the Council and Commission can have a dossier available before the end of the Luxembourg Presidency. Farmers need the security to plan ahead.
This is the first major programming for agriculture in the EU of 25. Rural development is important for all Member States, but for the new States in particular. It is particularly important in relation to the Financial Perspective for the period commencing 2007.
May I remind you that the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development tabled a total of 342 amendments, the Committee on Regional Development 75 and the Committee on Budgets one, so it is something of an achievement that we now have only 130 of them. The fact is that we need this sort of interdisciplinary cooperation and we need willingness to cooperate in rural areas. There is much that is positive about the Commission proposal: the combination of financial instruments into a single fund, simplification for greater ease of understanding and much more besides. Also the three axes structure and the Leader approach.
We reached three major compromises in our deliberations in the Committee on Agriculture. The first is the weighting of the axes, the second is Leader and the third is cofinancing as proposed by the Commission. We concluded that in order to preserve subsidiarity it is important to reduce the appropriations for the axes, that is 10, 20 and 8. For Leader we see a minimum appropriation of 7%, but we want the Leader reserve deleted. It is also important that Parliament will be sending the Council and Commission an important political signal if a majority in this House adopts this. I was always concerned that this report should cover both northern and southern regions, both eastern and western. This report also clearly acknowledges that the CAP reform’s modulation releases money that should be used primarily for Axes 1 and 2. I know that the Commissioner agrees with me on the need for support for young farmers. Our future generations are at stake and I hope that you, Commissioner, will be able to agree to Parliament’s estimate of EUR 55 000 per farm. It is the need for greater competitiveness that prompts us to extend it to small and medium-sized farms and, in forestry, to small and very small enterprises, not to mention, Commissioner, to the less-favoured areas, where we want a study to get a suitable redefinition of less-favoured areas and also to achieve the Lisbon and Gothenburg objectives.
There is a lot more besides. We also want more money, because we support Natura 2000, but that will only work with more resources in rural development. The Rural Development Programme cannot replace the other programmes, structural funds and the like; we must all be there for the rural areas together.
A productive agriculture and forestry is essential for an active and attractive rural area. A policy for rural areas is a policy for the entire population in all of Europe’s regions and is the way to ensure they will survive.
Finally, three amendments were tabled for plenary. I can accept Amendments 130 and 131, but unfortunately not 132."@en1
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