Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-11-Speech-4-085"
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"en.20101111.5.4-085"2
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"Madam President, first of all, I welcome the fact that this issue is being discussed here today. I think it is very timely. At present, the EU livestock sector is experiencing difficulties caused by a range of factors, including rising production costs, competition from imports from third countries, and, of course, various issues which contribute to the rising cost of feed.
Although we have no control over droughts in Australia or severe weather conditions that affect the grain harvest in Russia, I do believe that Europe urgently needs to tackle its lack of self-sufficiency regarding protein crops. We are far too dependent on third countries for our feed and need to begin cultivating more ourselves. However, the situation at present is that we are forced to import a lot of our feed and I have said many times before that I strongly believe that the process of approving new types of GMO grain for import is taking far too long, and feedstuff from soya urgently requires to be speeded up. If this does not happen, livestock producers across the European Union will have to cope with rising prices, volatility and uncertainty for a long time to come.
May I also briefly mention how the situation is affecting the pig and poultry industry. Farmers in this sector are feeling the crisis quite acutely, as their costs are rising and the price of pigmeat is falling. I would like to ask the Commission to monitor the situation closely and utilise all the tools that it has at its disposal to rectify matters.
Beef producers, sheep producers, pig producers, poultry producers are all in a situation where they are making a loss. Need I go on telling the House that all these areas are actually suffering? But I have to say that ultimately, it will be the consumer who will pay because, if all the farmers stop producing, you are going to have to import this food from abroad, with all the problems this entails. So we have got to have security of our own food supply within Europe. If we do not do that, it will be at our own peril."@en1
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