Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-06-Speech-1-142"
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"en.20050606.17.1-142"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mrs Schierhuber has produced an excellent report on the EU’s new regulation relating to the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. I also wish to express my sincerest thanks for the constructive cooperation shown by the Committee on Agricultural and Rural Development.
The main focus of the EU’s agricultural policy is moving in the direction of rural development, as direct subsidies and market measures have been strictly confined to the framework of the Brussels compromise, as it is known. The intention is to cut direct aid and market measures by around 5% every year, which is an annual saving of EUR 1.5 billion as far as the EAFRD is concerned. In all, more than 11 billion a year has been set aside for rural development in the EU’s future financial frameworks.
The need, however, is a desperate one. The Commission proposed that measures should be targeted at three policies: the improved competitiveness of agriculture and forestry, land management, or enhancement of the countryside and the environment, and the diversification of the rural economy and enhancement of the quality of life in rural areas. The Commission proposed that a certain minimum amount of financing should be allocated to each policy. The committee reduced these threshold amounts to the lowest value possible, because Member States have to be guaranteed sufficient flexibility in order to draw up their own individual programmes.
The central task of the EAFRD is to improve preconditions for agricultural competitiveness in different parts of the EU. For this reason, the development of the Least Favoured Areas scheme, for example, is more relevant than ever, as aid under the common agricultural policy mainly focuses on the EU’s best farming regions. In the same way, the importance of environmental aid for agriculture is growing, as environmental issues become more and more relevant to the present time.
The purpose of the EAFRD is to improve the opportunities that rural life can offer. That is why my group believes that aid measures should be targeted specifically at private individuals and the organisations they establish, not the state. Furthermore, financial support for business should focus specifically on micro and small enterprises. With these comments, we give our heartfelt support to the adoption of Mrs Schierhuber’s report."@en1
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