Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-11-Speech-2-257"
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"en.20080311.31.2-257"2
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"Mr President, this is an important moment to evaluate the consequences of successive reforms of the common agricultural policy, whether in terms of agricultural production or consumer supply, taking as the basis the protection of Member States’ self-sufficiency in food, securing adequate supplies of healthy and safe food at low prices, respect for the environment and biodiversity, and maintaining rural areas and their populations, who need adequate incomes and access to public services that guarantee them decent living conditions.
Unfortunately the European Commission did not follow that path. It does not acknowledge that the common agricultural policy has led to a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, food prices are continuing to rise, and on the other hand family holdings are still being destroyed and more and more small and medium-sized holdings are abandoning production because they are not guaranteed decent incomes whereas speculation continues, driving up the prices of increasingly scarce food products.
It is therefore a mistake to insist on decoupling aid from production and employment and it is unacceptable to continue to pursue a policy of support for large-scale landowners and multinational food corporations whilst failing to value the farmers who maintain agricultural and livestock production on the basis of protecting biodiversity, food safety and product quality.
The 2003 reform exacerbated the situation. The subsequent reforms of the common organisations of the markets in sugar, fruit and vegetables, tobacco and wine maintained the unfairness of the CAP in all areas. We therefore call for fundamental changes that respect the specific characteristics of each country’s agriculture and support the maximum linking of aid to production, and for there to be a fairer distribution of direct aid accompanied by a ceiling and modulation. Incentives should be set for small and medium-sized holdings as instruments of economic and social cohesion and with a view to curbing the intensive approach and supporting associations of such farmers, including agricultural cooperatives and wine cooperatives.
We are also in favour of setting up a public farmers’ insurance fund financed by the Community which would enable farmers to be paid a minimum income in the event of natural disasters such as drought, storms, hail, fire, epizootic diseases, etc. We also stress the need for the European Commission to take account, in the context of the World Trade Organization negotiations, of the specific characteristics of agricultural production as a food production sector, and a structuring element for territorial balance, preservation of the environment and the safeguarding of adequate quantitative and qualitative levels of food safety.
Finally, we call on the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary measures to prevent speculative activity, capturing of the market in food products and the formation of cartels by food companies exploiting the lack of legislation or controls, producers’ and consumers’ lack of organisation, and the lack of suitable infrastructures, with the sole aim of boosting profits, reducing producer prices and imposing high prices on consumers, as happens now, particularly in Portugal, for basic products such as cereals, potatoes for human consumption, and milk."@en1
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