Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-01-19-Speech-4-012-000"
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"en.20120119.3.4-012-000"2
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"Madam President, I should like to use all the time available to me for this debate now, if possible; all four minutes, since I have a further two minutes later.
There is a need for a system of production quotas: a quota system adapted to the needs of each country and to its development in terms of production equipment, so as to enable the development of the Member States with higher deficits.
For reasons of environmental, economic and social sustainability, there is also a need to organise international trade in such a way that producers, products and countries complement each other, rather than competing, as currently happens. The vitality of the economic and social fabric in the primary sector is dependent on this, not just in Europe, but in other countries too, especially in developing countries.
These, amongst many others, were some of the proposals included in the resolution tabled by our group. Unfortunately, we cannot find many of them in the report or in the other resolutions. We therefore hope that some of these proposals may be adopted here today.
I have a further two minutes and I should like to use them all together now, if possible. I would therefore ask you to set the clock to zero.
Madam President, Commissioner, the problem of farmers’ incomes is getting more serious, particularly in the case of small and medium-sized farmers and family farms, of which there are significant numbers in many Member States. Consumer prices do not reflect the prices paid to farmers for their products. The unsustainable increase in the costs of factors of production – fuel, feed, fertilisers, plant-health products, etc. – is happening at the same time as a persistent decline in the prices of products.
The consequences are the abandonment of agriculture, the unstoppable closure of farms, the desertification of the countryside, the concentration of production in the hands of large producers, and production that is increasingly intensive and geared towards exports. Imbalances between the Member States are growing; the food deficits and food dependence of countries with weaker production systems are growing; the threats to food security and sovereignty are growing.
None of this is new. All this is well known, and the causes of this profoundly negative development are also well known: the lack of instruments for regulating agricultural production, of regulation of the markets; the immeasurably increasing power of the major retailers and their abuses; the deregulation and liberalisation of international trade; the application of World Trade Organisation rules to agriculture; and the entry of speculators into the foodstuffs market. In short, the agricultural and trade policies in force: the common agricultural policy, the common commercial policy, and the patterns on which the single market has been established and is being deepened in the European Union.
Resolution of all these problems will not, therefore, be possible without profoundly changing these policies. There is a need for mechanisms regulating the food supply chain that defend producers – particularly small and medium-sized farmers, who promote employment in the countryside and bring it to life – and for reductions in food imports.
It is crucial to halt and reverse the present concentration of power in the hands of the major retailers and industry. There is a need for a decentralisation of the food supply chains, for support for and promotion of local production and consumption, for shorter food supply chains, and for local markets, including using innovative media like the Internet.
There is a need for measures intended to put a stop to dumping between Member States, as is happening in the milk sector, for example. There is a need for fair distribution of value added throughout the food supply chain.
We believe consideration should be given to the establishment of ceilings for companies’ profit margins using the price paid to producers as a benchmark, particularly for large supermarkets and retailers, and to putting a permanent stop to self-regulation, which is nothing short of a myth. There is a need to create and operate national systems for monitoring and shaping prices and price changes in retailers and large supermarkets, whilst steadfastly combating the current practices of cartelisation and price manipulation."@en1
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