Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-355"
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"en.20071023.26.2-355"2
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"Mr President, the problem of bread, milk, potatoes and other foods undergoing a price hike, which in some Member States is ten times the current rate of inflation, is very acute, particularly for those on low incomes, the main proportion of whose budget goes on food.
This problem did not come out of the blue. We know that the food sector is controlled by a few undertakings which make significant profits at the expense of producers and consumers: consumer prices are many times higher than those paid to the producers because of the large number of middlemen and the market monopoly. For this reason there is now an increased global demand for food and animal feed; cereals and oil seed rape are being used in the production of biofuels, not for environmental reasons but as part of the profit-making plans of the oil multinationals.
There has been a collapse in prices and EU intervention to help cereal production has diminished, and there has also been a mandatory set-aside because of the CAP. All these factors, together, of course, with dreadful weather conditions, have drastically reduced the EU’s stocks and production. Nonetheless, trade and industry have exploited this at the expense of farmers and consumers.
This is why food and animal feed prices have risen. These rises have worsened the position of workers, increased the number of undernourished people and bankrupted small and medium-sized livestock farmers. Greek livestock farmers are in despair; they are taking action to demand substantial aid to help them survive.
The decision by the Council of Ministers on 26 September to remove the compulsory set-aside, suspend duties on imported cereals and take other measures, to which you have referred, Commissioner, will go some way towards easing the problem, but it does not solve it. The decision suggests half-measures, which are by their very nature insufficient. Substantial measures are required to boost and the stock of animal feed, control prices, and clamp down on cartels and speculation."@en1
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