Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-18-Speech-3-436"
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"en.20080618.30.3-436"2
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"Mr President, can I first of all welcome the new Commissioner to his post. I look forward to working with him in the years to come and wish him well in taking up his post as Commissioner with a heavy responsibility. I know he is not involved in his own particular area tonight and he is speaking for Mariann Fischer Boel but I have little doubt – and I accept what he says – that his background knowledge in the area is quite good.
I fear this will be no different. There is an urgent need to develop the momentum behind this report. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development should have a report every six months on the state of play in the industry and what is being done to develop and improve the sector.
Like many politicians he came from this House. I am so delighted to see a Commissioner who actually was a Member, who actually knows what Members think and what Members feel. So, Commissioner, I hope you will not take personally some of the things I might say tonight but you will take them back to Mariann Fischer Boel and tell her what I really think.
The report that comes before this House regarding the sheep and goat industry is timely and has comprehensively addressed the particular problems which the sector is currently facing.
The sheep and goat sector has come through many years of being non-profitable. The industry has been demoralised by low prices, cheap imports and a low price for wool. Sheep production is usually based mainly in mountainous and less-favoured areas where there are no farming alternatives. As young people look to the future they see that they cannot survive on the present income that this sector provides. They are therefore turning their backs on sheep and goat farming.
The mid-term review did not bring any improvement to the financial viability of this sector. Under the present health check the sector must receive special attention and we must look to see how we can best improve the overall viability.
I have to say that the Commission proposal to bring in electronic tagging as proposed will destroy the industry. If ever there has been a proposal that has not been thought through, this is it. The industry simply cannot afford to pay for this. Most of the time, in fact, the tag would actually cost more than the animal might even be worth.
The Commission could ease fears by accepting our amendment to postpone the proposal until 2012. This would allow time to see if the technology associated with tagging improves and if the cost comes down. Then and only then can we really improve the traceability that the Commission requires.
Let me now deal with the proposal for a task force, which always seems to be put forward as a solution to any problem, be it in the national estate or in Europe. The agriculture industry is littered with task force reports that have emerged in a blaze of glory only to enter the dustbin of history, never having achieved their stated goals.
They are always well meaning but, unless you have the follow-through and the financial support, such reports will be doomed to fail."@en1
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