Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-10-Speech-2-054"
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"en.20040210.3.2-054"2
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"Mr President, I join in congratulating Mr Garot on his report. The recent hearing on farm income must surely have alerted all of us to the challenges facing EU farmers. It is easy to understand their frustration as they see their purchasing power eroded and their general quality of life under attack on many fronts.
Mr Garot succeeds in his report in focusing our minds on the basics of the common agricultural policy and what it is all about. We have a treaty basis for ensuring that farmers and their families are guaranteed a decent standard of living. We also have an obligation to maintain the European model of agriculture, which is based on family farm units and keeping a vibrant rural community.
Those who seek to undermine the common agricultural policy sometimes forget these basics. They forget that there is a socio-economic dimension to farming and that it is not just a business like any other sector. Mr Garot presents these facts very clearly. The fact that between 1995 and 2002 farm incomes in the European Union rose by an average of 7% highlights the very large disparities between countries, between crops and between producers. It also hides the fact that during the same period income levels have been maintained largely by a fall of 15.7% in the number of farms within the European Union. Here, surely, lies one of the most serious challenges facing the continuity of European agriculture.
Frequently farms have been able to revert to short-term measures such as foregoing necessary capital investment on farms. There has also been huge growth in part-time farming and off-farm employment. When we compare agricultural to industrial or service wages we can see that there is a continuing widening gap.
In conclusion, this report highlights important challenges that we legislators and policy-makers have to face up to. It is now essential that agricultural policy should still be used to protect and improve the incomes of as many householders as possible within the European Union and to guarantee a secure future for our farmers and their families."@en1
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