Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-06-Speech-1-141"
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"en.20050606.17.1-141"2
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".
Mr President, as has already been said, the Commission's proposal establishes three main priorities: increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sectors, improving the environment and land management, and improving quality of life and promoting agricultural diversification.
I would like to begin by congratulating the rapporteur, Mrs Schierhuber, on the wonderful work she has done, not only because of the document we are going to vote on during tomorrow's sitting, but also because she has been able to produce a balanced text which fully incorporates the compromises reached in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Furthermore, it makes very significant improvements to the Commission's text that will help to provide more flexibility and make the management of programmes more effective and efficient.
Amongst other improvements, I would like to refer to the reduction of minimum spending percentages for each axis — which I believe to be positive — the possibility of combining national and/or regional programmes, increasing equality between men and women and the appeal to the Member States to facilitate access by women to joint ownership of farms.
With regard specifically to each axis, I would highlight the increase in assistance for the installation of young farmers, which Mrs Schierhuber has just referred to: the EUR 55 000 granted in the form of a premium or an interest subsidy of loan and the flexibility to help them to comply with the rules. I would also stress the extension of assistance to medium-sized companies for marketing and processing, as well as any form of producers association. In this regard, I believe that it is they, at the end of the day, who are in the best position to provide added value for local products.
I would like to refer to an issue that is of crucial importance: the recovery of the depopulation criterion in the least-favoured areas which, whichever new definition the Commission provides for these regions in the future, must be treated as a priority, because the abandonment of rural areas by their populations is an undeniable sign of their backwardness.
With regard to the funding of NATURA 2000, which Mrs Schierhuber has also referred to, the report calls for an increase in the resources allocated, since the Commission has on several occasions rejected our proposal to provide NATURA 2000 with its own financial instrument.
I would finally like to refer, in axis 3, to the support for the activities of women in rural areas. I believe that this is a fundamental element to which we must dedicate all of our efforts and that we must provide many guarantees in order to ensure that women are fully incorporated.
I also wished to refer to the rural development measures, to the LEADER approach as a whole, which is going to be enhanced by this Regulation, because it helps to make the European Union visible to the citizens and at this point in time visibility is something that we must not diminish.
The thing that surprised me in particular about the French ‘no’ was the fact that 70% of French farmers had voted against the draft European Constitution. We have the obligation to correct the situation and I believe that this report makes a good contribution in this regard."@en1
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