Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-13-Speech-1-173"
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"en.20061113.20.1-173"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I should like to begin by congratulating Mr Mulder and Mr Goepel on their excellent reports and by saying that I endorse the proposals contained in their reports. The Council’s decision last December to allow voluntary modulation may lead to distortion of competition between the farmers of different Member States, depending on the percentages of modulation that they choose to adopt.
The fact that there is soon to be a health check on the CAP 2008, in which we shall be able to discuss capping and the increase in compulsory modulation, is a further reason not to press ahead now with measures such as voluntary modulation, which may bring irreversible consequences. If this proposal is pushed through, we shall clearly be taking a further step towards renationalising the CAP and dismantling the communitisation of agricultural policy.
Without wishing to underplay the political importance of rural development, I must say that investment in this policy will not be boosted by this measure. Let me give the example of my country, which returns more second-pillar funding to Brussels than any other country and which, in the EU-15, already had the largest balance between the first and second pillars, 53% and 47% respectively.
Nevertheless, the Minister for Agriculture in my country, Portugal, has already announced the intention to adopt 20% modulation. Taking back money from farmers in order to fund the State budget or so that the money can be given back to Brussels will certainly not be the best solution for farmers, and it represents an approach based solely on economic criteria and aimed at using the money for rural development without cofinancing.
With these practical risks, which are already clearly apparent in countries like Portugal – as evidenced by the example I mentioned – it is abundantly clear that, if we are to defend farmers resolutely and to champion a common agricultural policy, we must do all we can to ensure that voluntary modulation goes no further."@en1
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