Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-03-Speech-4-161"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030703.9.4-161"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, when one considers your statement in technical terms, you are certainly right to say that price-fixing and quantity-fixing are offences against equality of competition in the European Union. Although you do discuss this, the fact remains that livestock farmers were in an extraordinarily difficult situation. The BSE crisis dealt the market a blow the like of which it had never before experienced, and this is something else for which the Commission has to assume its responsibility. Let me remind you that this crisis was marked by repeated attempts by the Commission and, to a varying degree, the Council and some of the Member States, to pour oil on troubled waters, which had a negative effect on the market when disaster actually struck. Let me remind you that it was this House and its investigating committee that had to force the Commission – and to some extent also the Council – to act in order that steps could be taken, not only to make provision for health care and to combat the disease, but also to compensate the farmers.
It is understandable that, in such a situation, people will look for ways of defending themselves, even those that are not legal. I do not want to defend this, and they must be punished for it, but then we – by which I mean the Commission – must accept our own responsibilities. Moreover, we must, in addition to the current measures for cleaning up and regulating the market, which you have described, take a good hard look at the agricultural policy. At that time, the situation was that the 90-head upper limit for bull premiums, which had applied in France, did not apply in other countries – Germany being one of them – so that we were paid premiums for every bull that we could produce, while a limit was in force in France. This meant that, in France, a stable market developed, and other countries tried very hard to get their exports onto it. France and the livestock price therefore came under pressure. This, then, is another area in which the agricultural policy must ensure that conditions are the same, in order that we do not end up with the same premium being paid for the twenty-thousandth bull as was paid for the twentieth. The alternative is that this measure must apply in all countries. Let me again remind you that this disparity within the agricultural sector gave rise to major problems, in that it stoked up competition within the agricultural sector. If then, the Commission wants to avail itself of such penalties, it must always take the conditions into account and keep at least the amount of the penalty in line with them."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples