Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-14-Speech-1-105"
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"en.20091214.15.1-105"2
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"Mr President, I will now try to respond to some of the questions raised, but I think this discussion here clearly shows that there is a common understanding of the difficulties that our agricultural sector is facing.
On the measures: we can actually use all the tools that we have available at the moment. But new initiatives cannot be presented by a caretaker Commission. I am sure that you are aware of this problem, and therefore I hope that we will be able to see the new Commission in operation as soon as possible.
Next, I am very happy to see that the European Parliament will now have a role as an important player for the future, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty introducing codecision. This is not only codecision on the pure agricultural issues but also on the budget. So here, you will have a huge influence on the budgetary possibilities for the agricultural sector for the period after 2013.
Though I might not experience it from this place, I can guarantee that I will keep an eye on you when you take upon yourselves the new responsibilities for the agricultural sector.
First of all, I was a bit astonished to hear that we should have removed the safety net to the agricultural sector. That is certainly not the case. We actually have a safety net in place in situations where the farmers need support. We have a continuous safety net, which is the direct payments. That is certainly in place, and that is accountable for the farmers. Then we have the different intervention systems, the private storage, the export refunds systems to enter into effect when we find it necessary to trigger these tools.
On simplification, red tape, bureaucracy – I completely agree with you that we should try to ease the situation as much as possible for our farmers, and that is the reason why, in the Council meeting on Wednesday, I will present to the Council some deregulation proposals to be discussed.
The Council presented 39 different proposals, and we can actually accept quite a number. Others are more political, related to the period after 2013, but I am sure that you would find the proposals extremely interesting.
Those that have raised the GMO issue, I presume you know that I think completely along the same lines, and I think that it is important to find a solution on a technical figure on the presence of non-approved GMs. I expect the next Commission to present such a proposal.
It is true that the European Union is the biggest importer of agricultural products, but at the same time, the European Union is the biggest exporter of agricultural products. This is because of the fact that we have an extremely good brand: European products are considered to be high quality on overseas markets. Therefore, the idea that we should now protect our own production would be damaging for our agricultural sector.
So we need to go on being visible on the export markets, and I think that for the future – and I hope there will be full support from the European Parliament – we need much more money for promoting our high-quality products on the new emerging markets. I think we can do much better, but we need a bit of support.
Then on the issue of the regulatory framework – I did not hear this exact phrase, but I think that is what is behind the comments on this issue. Today, it is already possible for farmers to enter into a contract with the industry, with the dairy, for a certain volume at a fixed price. It is already possible for farmers to do this. And you know in the high level group for the dairy sector we are looking into some voluntary ways of improving this system.
Biodiversity: I completely agree that this is important, and that was exactly the reason why we included biodiversity in the new challenges when we agreed on the health check of the common agricultural policy in November 2008. So this has high priority, and I completely agree with the comments from the honourable Member."@en1
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