Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-15-Speech-2-741-000"
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"en.20111115.35.2-741-000"2
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"Madam President, we would like to bring into this debate an issue that concerns us greatly, into which the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and EU will absolutely have to go further. It is the issue of expropriation of land – known as ‘land grabbing’ – in ACP countries. A number of reports mention the enormous area involved in this process of expropriation of land for producing biofuels, and for feeding speculation on the price of land and foodstuffs.
The expression ‘expropriation’ is not misplaced, as that is what this is. The euphemistic description ‘land acquisition’ that is sometimes used obscures the effects and consequences of the process, which involves expelling farmers and local communities from their lands.
The European Union has responsibilities with regard to this, both because many of the companies at the forefront of this process are European, and because legislation on fuels of so-called ‘renewable’ origin is encouraging the race for the ACP countries’ arable land. This race threatens biodiversity, degrades soils and other natural resources, and tends to dangerously accentuate the food deficit in many of these countries, leading to hunger and destitution.
Another issue that concerns us is the conclusion of so-called ‘economic partnership agreements’ (EPAs) and the European Commission’s insistence on free trade.
As the rapporteur rightly says, more attention needs to be paid to the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. If you have paid attention to this body over the course of the last year, the repeated resistance of the ACP countries to EPAs – which is fair, legitimate and entirely understandable – cannot have escaped your notice. The way that they have been conceived means they could be very lucrative for some European multinationals, but will be disastrous for these countries.
In conclusion, we would like to raise an issue here that is as old as it is current: that of debt and servicing debt.
The economic and financial crisis and its effects on the ACP countries require the cancellation of this enormous burden, which is a debt that has already been paid several times over yet is still growing, so as to bring an end once and for all to this unacceptable expropriation of wealth, and effectively help these countries to find a sovereign and independent path to development and social progress."@en1
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