Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-17-Speech-5-028"
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"en.20000317.3.5-028"2
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"Mr President, I welcome this measure. From an administrative point of view the formalisation is a good thing. But when we come to think about it the amount of money is quite small – EUR 27 million over a period of six years. Considering the size of the agricultural budget and the fact that it extends to every corner of the Union, it is a relatively small amount of money. That is why I welcome that fact that most of it will be spent at the rate of 50% rather than 75%. The more of it that is spent at the rate of up to 50%, the further the money goes and the greater the impact.
The common agricultural policy gets a lot of criticism. One of the things that was not widely understood was the importance of this policy from a social point of view: the fact is, that in all the depressed regions of the Union, the common agricultural policy has maintained the population and supported communities, in a social sense, that would not otherwise have survived. This is particularly true of the peripheral countries such as Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, where communities that would have disappeared have been supported and maintained, if not for ever, certainly until a change in economic environment, until the new technologies arrived. The long-term effect of the common agricultural policy in that sense will be greater than people have often imagined.
I have no fault to find with the way the Commission interacted with the agriculture industry over the years. From my experience the European Commission was more open to representations and information exchange with the agriculture industry than most departments of agriculture in most Member States. The Commission taught Member States over the years how to be open with very limited resources. But there are new pressures, arising out of consumer concerns about new processes and systems of producing food. These have to be explained, not only to farmers, but to consumers as well. There is a lot of mythology about what is safe and what is not safe. We have an important job to do to explain the workings of the whole productive system to the consumers of Europe and those outside the Union who will buy our food. It is important that we apply as many resources as possible to this.
The last point I want to make is that, arising from these pressures, we will have a reaction from agriculture. As we inevitably wind down some of the supports in the process of enlargement and, at the same time, maintain the pressures to protect the environment and the consumers, then there will be friction between the producers and the European administration. To devote as many resources as possible to good relations is a wise policy."@en1
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