Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-06-Speech-4-231"
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"en.20010906.12.4-231"2
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"Mr President, the figures some Members have quoted amply demonstrate that the mountains are the minority of minorities in this House. We represent only a little over 5% of the inhabitants of Europe, of European citizens, but, as documented in the annals of the European Parliament over fifty years of the European Union, this is only the third time that the word ‘mountain’ and a motion for a resolution about mountains have been heard in this Chamber. The first time was in 1983. The rapporteur then was Mr Colleselli, from Cadore, in the North of Italy. The second time, fifteen years later, I myself had the honour and the duty of bringing the problems of the mountains to this House, with my report on a new strategy for mountain regions, approved on 23 October 1998. My report started from an overall view of the problems of mountain regions, in all their complexity, and concluded that mountain farming was and remains the key.
The Ebner report – and I congratulate the rapporteur on the specific detail he has been able to put into it – takes this aspect further and opens up another horizon. I can state that he starts precisely from the conclusions of the previous report by indicating that the salvation of the mountains we are all calling for can start from the farming sector itself.
However, we are all aware, once again, that farming cannot do it alone. That is why there are also proposals in Mr Ebner’s report which involve the whole mountain world: transport, infrastructure, tourism, the eco-system.
There is another factor we must protect and safeguard; the vital factor for the mountains, Commissioner, is and remains man. The average age of farmers in Europe – as you know –is about 50. Some mountain farmers are over 60. That is a dire statistic for the future of the mountains.
We must make mountain farming attractive again, give the farmers confidence, and give them resources. Above all we must have the courage to recognise, Commissioner, that a specific type of farming called mountain farming exists. Let us do so with conviction so that the mountains themselves can continue to exist!"@en1
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