Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-01-19-Speech-4-010-000"
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"en.20120119.3.4-010-000"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we all know it is increasingly hard to be a farmer in Europe. The figures speak for themselves. According to Eurostat, production costs have gone up 40% over the last decade, whilst prices have not increased by more than 25%.
However, it is not just upstream that farmers are being completely squeezed. Farmers downstream are also obliged to accept unimaginable prices, payment times and other contractual conditions, because of the disproportionate correlation of forces existing in the marketing chain.
I shall give the example of my own country, where the cooperative sector has little importance. Around 65% of sales of food products are concentrated in the hands of the five largest companies, with the figures much higher for some sectors, such as milk. Just last week, in my country, the authorities learned that 400 000 litres of milk on the marketing chain were being sold at below cost price.
As political decision makers, we need to ensure that agriculture remains a viable activity in Europe, producing good-quality foodstuffs and raw materials at fair prices that provide a living for farmers. To this end, there is a need for a sound common agricultural policy, but also for fair competition, as mentioned in the Treaty.
I therefore call on the Commission and the Council to follow up urgently the recommendations and suggestions formulated in the resolutions we are discussing here today, and for concrete proposals to be tabled as soon as possible."@en1
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