Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-06-Speech-1-114"
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"en.20100906.17.1-114"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, firstly, I am pleased with the debate that we have just had, in which a very large number of Members were able to speak. It is true that, at this time, on the first day of the part-session, there are rather too many of us for this debate, which shows just how interested all of the groups are in the work of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.
The important thing for me is that the report that we have debated, the text that is going to be voted on tomorrow in this House, is a joint text. This has been mentioned by a number of speakers. I am the rapporteur, but this text has been drafted jointly within the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and I think that that is very important. Everyone came with his or her own idea or story, and we came up with this proposal together. I feel it is important to emphasise this. It is my name that appears on this report, but it is a joint report, and I wanted to reiterate that.
Several speakers stressed the need to safeguard farmers’ incomes through the sale of their agricultural products. That is the very foundation of agriculture. Farmers are paid from the sale of their products, and so to say that, today, farmers cannot sell below production cost is an essential, indispensable condition if we are to continue to have farmers in Europe in the future.
Agricultural policy makes it possible to support, to maintain agricultural activity across regions, and to combat distortions linked to natural handicaps or to the regions. Therefore, the fact is that there will be no common agricultural policy if farmers cannot earn a living from their production in the first place. Farmers are the ones making the strongest calls in this regard, and Parliament has just successfully repeated their demands.
The second point that I feel emerged clearly from our debate just now is the need for transparency all along the food chain. All the speakers came back to this point at various levels, in particular, with regard to the processing sector in negotiations with producers, or with the large-scale distribution sector, which, often, for example in the case of fruit and vegetables, creams off unbelievable profits. Today, all that is acknowledged; this need is no longer in doubt.
Many speakers also focused on the issue of speculation; I am not going to go back over it.
Therefore, I would say that, once the vote has been held tomorrow in plenary – and I believe that all the speeches have demonstrated the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development’s collective will to table this report and to convince all of our fellow Members – once the text is adopted, once it is voted for tomorrow, the ball will be in the Commission’s court. Moreover, I should like to say to the Commissioner: it is now up to you to take action. This is an initiative that we are taking. We are making proposals to you.
Our expectation, of course, is that this work will now be taken up by the Commission and the Council, since it is clear that Parliament alone will be unable to do anything. On the other hand, by working together, we will be able to build a new common agricultural policy. Above all, however, we will be able to give hope to European farmers."@en1
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