Josep Borrell Fontelles (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, suddenly, a financial and property crisis in the North and a food crisis in the South have demonstrated all the contradictions of deregulated globalisation.

Suddenly the markets have begun speculating on food products, because there are enormous profit margins. When the price of rice increases from USD 400 to USD 1 000 in seven weeks no amount of biofuels can justify this massive price rise. This is purely and simply the market, the sacrosanct market, which having speculated on housing and ruined millions of people in debt is now speculating on food, because that is where the money is to be made: USD 1 000 for a tonne of rice!

This does not have anything to do with a rational structural problem that can be justified in terms of an increase in demand from the Chinese, or which can be justified in terms of a decrease in supply due to drought.

This world needs a little less market and a little more regulation. Globalisation cannot continue to progress through blows that cause catastrophes such as these; it needs to be governed, and governing globalisation now means, among other things, boosting Africa’s capacity for agricultural production.

As the Commissioner said, entirely rightly, a continent such as Africa cannot import food. Africa must be self-sufficient, and in order to achieve this there are many policies that we need to change to enable them to develop their productivity, helping them to do what they know how to do and can do, and what they would do if it were not for the circumstances of the markets – once again the markets – which in the quest for competitiveness at all costs have caused massive human tragedies.

Haiti imports 80% of the rice that it consumes. A few years ago it was fully self-sufficient. Why is it suddenly importing the rice that is produced in the United States, which is highly subsidised? Why have we put it in a situation of extreme dependency? It is true that biofuels have caused an increase in the price of American corn. When 30% of production is diverted, obviously prices will fluctuate.

The price of wheat has not changed, however, as a result of biofuels: 1% cannot cause these sorts of changes. We cannot stop the technological development of what is now an alternative to liquid fuels, and perhaps the only one. Let us avoid excessive diversion, but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater, or seek scapegoats for problems that are not caused by technological changes or variations in demand, but by speculative movements that the world should not allow and that we, together with all political forces, should fight against.