Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-17-Speech-2-179"
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"en.20060117.20.2-179"2
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".
Madam President, first of all, I would like to thank Mr Daul, Mr Barón Crespo, Mr Fazakas and Mrs Morgantini for their proactive involvement in this dossier, and to praise the impressive work accomplished by the rapporteurs, Mr Fruteau, Mr Glattfelder, Mr Wynn and Mrs Kinnock. Let me also thank the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Rural Development, International Trade, Budgetary Control and Development for their strong commitment, their helpful input and the very constructive debate. These impressive contributions certainly have produced results. The reform of the common market organisation that has remained practically unchanged for almost four decades is a major undertaking; in fact this reform is long overdue.
Sugar policy has many facets. The list of legitimate interests that need to be met is very long: the hundreds of thousands of farmers who grow sugar beet in the community; the sugar producing and consuming industries and their workers; the consumers; and, last but not least, our trade partners, including those countries enjoying longstanding preferences. From the beginning, I have been aware of the need to strike a fine balance between the different needs and the different demands.
As Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, I am fully aware of the social, economic and environmental relevance of the sugar sector, both inside and outside the Community. That makes sugar policy particularly challenging, which is why I have committed myself so deeply to the reform of this sector.
I believe that the present proposals in their entirety respond to the needs of the Community. They are the result of careful reflection and are in tune in the CAP reform package and our international commitments. We have been ambitious and far-reaching. I am convinced that the future of the sugar sector cannot be based on short-term approaches.
The reform package seeks to give the European sugar sector a viable and competitive future. It offers long-term certainty and generous assistance to help both farmers and sugar producers with the process of adjustment. By acting now, we will have the funds available to ease the painful restructuring process that is absolutely vital and at the same time compensate our farmers. Delaying this necessary reform would result in nothing but a more drastic reduction of Community production and a much more severe restructuring process. We also need to ensure the compliance of the future regime with the WTO panel, and our proposal fulfils that requirement.
Finally, we have to ensure that the European Union remains an attractive market for developing countries, and offer our ACP partners the necessary financial assistance to adapt to these unavoidable changes. Much useful work has been done since the first communication from the Commission was presented in the summer of 2004, both in the European Parliament and in the Council. As a result, today we have the contours of a reform that has to a very large extent been shaped by Parliament. Most obvious is that the entire reform is built on the basis of a restructuring fund, which was an idea originally introduced by the European Parliament in the report by Mr Fruteau and Mr Daul at the beginning of last year.
There are many other examples of the European Parliament’s influence on this reform: the retention of the intervention system during a transitional period; the reduction of the price cuts and its extension over a four-year period with a generous compensation scheme; all the measures taken to more adequately ensure the management of supply; the possibilities of making a real difference in those areas that will be most affected by the restructuring; and the allocation of the restructuring aid, of which at least 10% would be reserved for sugar beet growers and machinery contractors – an amount that could be increased by Member States according to their specific situations. All these fingerprints show that we have had collaboration that has gone beyond the expression of intention and has delivered a real political result.
I want to express my sincere thanks to the European Parliament for its cooperation."@en1
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