Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-722-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110705.40.2-722-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"As you know, we have been analysing these issues in recent years in a kind of task force, involving a lot of Commissioners, our respective services, and the stakeholders in the sector, so I think we now have a sound knowledge of where the problems lie along these value chains. Certain problems lie in my direct area of responsibility – competition policy. Others are being dealt with by my colleague, Dacian Cioloş, the Agriculture Commissioner, or by the Commissioners for trade, consumer protection or health, for example.
In my view, as Competition Commissioner, the solution for the farmers will not be to organise cartels; it will be to become more efficient, and farmers have lots of possibilities open to them, in compliance with the competition rules under Article 101 of the Treaty, to increase their bargaining power, to improve the vertical integration of their activities and to be able to negotiate on a sound footing with the distribution chains or their intermediaries. We have excellent examples within the EU of these kinds of strategy for improving dynamism, efficiency and quality and improving bargaining power against other parts of the value chain.
I know that, on some occasions, farmers say they are not used to organising themselves into cooperatives or integrating themselves into a vertical chain. Nonetheless, I think this is the right way to go. There are also problems elsewhere along the chain but, according to our knowledge – which has improved over recent years with this analysis – these problems are better dealt with at national level by the national competition authorities. In fact, during the last few years, several national competition authorities have carried out sectoral studies and are adopting a lot of decisions to improve competition and improve the functioning of the value chain. All this is taking place from a competition point of view: there are also other structural policies that should help the whole sector to function better.
At the end of the day, we need to protect farmers and we need to consider consumers. These are the two ends of the value chain, and both extremes of the value chain should put pressure on all the authorities concerned, so that we can deal with the problems we are finding at intermediate stages along the chain. So far, from the competition point of view, our work in this sector in recent years has not had an EU dimension. However, many of the competition authorities at national level are doing a very good job, and in our report next autumn I hope to show you how the European competition network, through the national competition authorities, is contributing to the solutions you are seeking with your question."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples