Go back to the Europarl portal

Choisissez la langue de votre document :

 Index 
 Full text 
Verbatim report of proceedings
Tuesday, 3 June 2003 - Strasbourg OJ edition

Reform of the common agricultural policy
MPphoto
 
 

  Mayer, Xaver (PPE-DE).(DE) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me first make a small, general observation. At this point, I would like to express our particular thanks to the ladies and gentlemen of the Committee secretariat, to our staff and the staff in the Parliamentary groups. All have been under enormous pressure of time. In particular I must thank the rapporteur with dual responsibility for cereals and dried fodder, our French colleague, Mr Dominique Souchet, for his two sound and, from a practical point of view, balanced reports, and above all, for the truly remarkable and transparent cooperation and close coordination across group boundaries, right from the start. This is not always the case in this House. We in this House – and we really should see this – consider ourselves the chosen representatives of the public and understand the individual working situation more precisely and also much more clearly than others – even including the Commission.

Now, briefly, let me turn to the report by Mr Souchet on the subject of cereals. We consider the proposed reduction in the intervention price unnecessary. Ten years of continuous intervention price reductions have left it almost at the level of the world market price. Even the additional monthly charges – Commissioner, I know I said 'yes, but' – ultimately help towards better distribution over the year.

Of course there have been many suggestions here today – for which we are grateful – regarding the proposed situation in the rye sector. Amendment No 28 – I mention this amendment in particular – also contains a measure to limit surplus. It provides opportunities for increased consumption at various levels on the one hand, and the restriction of rye cultivation to limited farm locations – as Mrs Fiebiger has already pointed out, this is by and large where the heart of the matter lies.

Regarding potato starch, which is of course regulated by the cereal market organisation, we envisage the fundamental retention of production refunds. Nevertheless we will get a decoupling or a step-by-step partial decoupling of cereals.

With regard to the report on dried fodder, Commissioner, I find the total abolition of the dried fodder regulation incomprehensible. For many of our grassland farms the cooperative drying plants maintained by farmers are a valuable means of support, which make an important contribution to the supply of mineral-rich fodder.

As Mr Goepel has already pointed out, we have all seen the danger that discussion of this reform is happening too close to WTO issues, and also to the discussion on the future structure of the enlarged EU. In actual fact the current discussion and this conclusion are vital. We have shown that we have carried out our responsibilities regarding co-determination.

(Applause)

 
Legal notice - Privacy policy