Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-25-Speech-4-122"
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"en.20011025.2.4-122"2
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"Mr President, I apologise for my absence. The report by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development is an improvement on the Commission proposals but, for all that, it does not make any significant changes in the sheep and goat farming sector.
For example, we agree that it is good idea to increase premiums and special aid, which have not risen since 1993 and have since been eroded by inflation. We also agree that it is a good idea to make the conditions for payment of supplementary aid more flexible. However, we do not agree that it is a good idea to maintain the difference between mixed meat and milk production subsidies, which the report justifies on the grounds that mixed production unit holders generate additional income from milk production. This is not comparing like with like because meat production units, which are mainly located in northern countries, are large operations which afford a satisfactory income and profit to their owners, while mixed production units, which are mainly located in the Mediterranean countries, are family-run holdings in the most barren areas which do not afford their owners a viable income, with the result that they are declining year on year and these areas are being abandoned. The headage payments in Greece for each holding have not risen since 1989-1991.
The report accepts the philosophy of quotas and even tries to add to it with management quotas, despite the fact that the European Union's self-sufficiency in sheep- and goatmeat is around 80%, sheep and goat farms are to be found in the poorest areas of the European Union, where no alternative form of farming is generally possible, and sheep and goat farmers are the poorest social group in the European Union. If we really wanted to provide income support for these regions and for sheep and goat farmers, we would abolish quotas, increase subsidies and provide other additional incentives. This sort of policy would help to reverse the rate of abandonment of mountain and mainly barren areas and, at the same time, make the European Union self-sufficient in sheep- and goatmeat."@en1
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