Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-418"
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"en.20100420.15.2-418"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I come from southern Italy. In my region, in our regions, production revolves around Mediterranean crops, oil, arable crops and vegetables. Little has been said about this, as the focus of Europe and of the Commission has always been predominantly on dairy farming and stock rearing; yet we also need to draw attention to Mediterranean crops.
I assure you that we are witnessing a phenomenon of rural abandonment in our areas, in our regions, due to the effects of climate change and desertification. For us, desertification manifests itself in the weeds that grow where vegetable crops, vegetables and fruits, were once cultivated, where olive groves are no longer nurtured and the soil is no longer ploughed.
I can tell you that in 1995, before the euro came along, olive producers were paid ITL 170 000, which is equivalent to about EUR 90. This year, olive producers have been paid EUR 30 per hundred kilograms. Thirteen or fourteen years have gone by and the price is now a third of what it used to be. Our producers sell oil wholesale for EUR 2 per litre; such takings do not even allow them to cover their costs, and we are putting farms in debt because they are selling at less than cost price.
We are also seeing a strange phenomenon: oil is bought wholesale for EUR 2 and we find that it is retailing in supermarkets for EUR 2 or less. There is clearly a need to introduce more controls. I would be happy to meet you to outline the problem of updating Regulation (EC) No 2568/1991; there are new control systems and we must fight against sophistication and adulteration, for the benefit of consumers and producers too.
We cannot contemplate nationalising aid in the next CAP, nor can we contemplate reducing direct aid, since the absence of direct aid or the reduction of its funds would lead to a farming crisis in southern Italy and the Mediterranean.
Commissioner, I will conclude by telling you that those who own land today own it not because they won it in a lottery, but because it was handed down to them by their father or grandfather, who cultivated that land, who poured their sweat and blood into it, and left it to their son.
Today, those who leave their farm to their children risk leaving them with a handful of debts. Europe must provide an energetic and strong response to help and aid the revival of our agricultural sector."@en1
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