Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf (Verts/ALE). – (DE) Madam President, Commissioners, this Economic Recovery Plan is no masterpiece. Above all, there is not much left over for rural areas. It also entails a transfer of funds from the agricultural budget to rural development. Commissioner, it does not lead to independent rural development for rural areas but once again follows a balancing logic.

Above all, it is left to the discretion of the Member States to create compensation programmes. In Germany, this affects the milk fund. A loss of 15 cents per kilo of milk means a shortfall of EUR 4.2 billion for German milk farmers alone. Now, a compensation is to be created with EUR 100 million. Commissioner, let me be clear about this. This is just peanuts, not an economic recovery plan!