Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-03-Speech-3-153"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000503.9.3-153"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, this Convention will only be successful if, in time, it becomes redundant. Needless to say, structural food aid will continue to be necessary as long as we have so many seriously undernourished people. The aim of this prevention exercise is to secure the developing countries’ own foodstocks and to phase out dependence on donor aid. In other words, the intention is not to help Europe get rid of its agricultural surpluses or to promote rich countries’ exports by means of soft loans. Excess production within European agriculture must be drastically reformed in order to re-adjust the market, the world’s poorest regions should not be used as a dumping ground for products of stubborn European mismanagement, and our efforts to stimulate exports should not be aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world. The Fiori amendment is preoccupied with Europe’s own interests and is therefore wide of the mark. In fact, it promotes exactly the opposite of what is really needed, namely a strategy which leads to self-sufficiency. This means that the focus should be on stimulating local production. If this does not happen, our aid will have the opposite effect. The local producers will then be pushed out of the way from the outset by free or cheap products and the affected countries will remain dependent on the ‘oh so generous’ donors.
Another implication of a correct strategy is that soft loans would not be linked to compulsory purchases in the donor country. Moreover, the permitted 20% credit is not really of any benefit because it can lead to unfair competition. Despite what has been agreed, food aid must remain restricted to financial aid and a range of real food. As such, vitamin tablets from Canada do not form part of this.
Mr President, does the Commission share my view that European food aid itself should be streamlined and should be stripped of time-consuming red tape? Does the Commission think that this is feasible and could aid not be allocated via one development budget line? Mr President, the food problem can, in principle, be solved, even in Africa, provided we have a cohesive development policy intended to reduce poverty there instead of increasing wealth over here. Our aim should not be to fill the purses of a few but to fill the mouths of many. Only when we manage to achieve this will aid no longer be necessary."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples