Text tabled : A6-0432/2007

  Pedro Guerreiro (GUE/NGL), in writing. − (PT) We denounce the unacceptable political manoeuvre led by the most reactionary sectors of the EP to try to use a report on ‘African agriculture’ to criticise the legitimate participation of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, a full member country of the African Union, in the forthcoming EU-Africa summit meeting. This manoeuvre has to all intents and purposes been defeated.

With regard to the report itself, we believe it contains a number of positive points, such as its criticism that basing support for ‘advancing African agriculture’ to ‘facilitate trade’ solely on Economic Partnership Agreements is a form of blackmail to promote the liberalisation of trade in agricultural products.

Encouraging many of these countries to make their agricultural economies dependent on the EU is an attempt to bind these countries to an agreement that imposes on them an agricultural model based on monoculture for export, resulting in obvious and serious economic, social and environmental problems for both the people of many African countries and for the people of the EU Member States.

We therefore believe that helping African agriculture means supporting the socially responsible development of an agricultural model based on its own specific needs and on the food sovereignty and security of each country.