Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-22-Speech-2-256"
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"en.20080422.49.2-256"2
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"Mr President, I think this is one of the most important debates we have had in this Parliament in my time here. However, I would ask everyone to suspend their hang-ups, misconceptions and perhaps their conceptions, because kicking around the CAP – beating ourselves up about where we are at – will not solve this problem.
Nobody thought we would be here – none of the experts in the Commission predicted that food security would be a problem, none of the great political leaders ever spoke about it – but suddenly Europeans are paying more for food and they are terrified. Well, maybe it is a good day that we are at this stage because maybe, in this knowledge, we will take real account of the needs of the world’s poorest of the poor, who are paying through the nose for food at the moment.
I should like to make a few suggestions, starting at European level, which might frighten some who have already spoken. While commodity prices are increasing, can I just ask you to reflect that so, too, are the costs of production. Farmers use fuel and energy to grow food and their costs are going up. Farmers will only increase production if they make a profit, and we have a real problem here. Look at fertiliser prices and the trends in that direction. Climate change – we have actually pulled back on food production in Europe because of it. We cannot have it both ways.
But let me go to the developing world. I have on other occasions – not on this platform but elsewhere – said that Africa needs a common agricultural policy. That is how Europe developed its food production base – that is how we fed ourselves – and we need to acknowledge, as has been done in this House today, that we have underinvested in agricultural research, in development and in the advisory service.
I repeat my point: it is a good day if high food prices in Europe make us realise that we need to invest in the very basics of civilisation, which is food production, and we need firstly to look after the developing world. So, while I come here anxious about the state we are in, I come here too in hope that finally we might actually do something and take seriously the question of global food security. But do not kick the CAP!"@en1
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