[Duurzaamlijst] CALLS FOR A RADICAL CHANGE TO THE C.A.P

[geno@zap.a2000.nl]

On 7 Feb 2001, at 20:28, Eluned Haf wrote:

THE GREENS/EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE IN THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, 7 February 2001

Greens/EFA launch 10-point plan towards a NEW Common 
Agricultural
Policy

Greens/EFA call for a radical reorientation of agricultural subsidies


The Green/European Free Alliance Group in the European 
parliament
today called for a radical re-orientation of EU subsidies towards a
more environmentally friendly and consumer-oriented agricultural
production.

Speaking at a press conference at which the Green/EFA Group 
presented
its ten-point plan for a New Common Agricultural Policy,
Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, President of the 
Committee for
Agriculture of the European Parliament said:


"The recent BSE crisis has shown all EU citizens that we cannot 
go on
with an agricultural policy which is exclusively fixed on increasing
production. As well as BSE, the dioxin scandal, the use of hormones
and antibiotics in cattle raising and other dangerous practices have
shown that this kind of agricultural policy must be ended, and the
sooner the better.

"The Greens/EFA demand a radical re-orientation of the distribution of
agricultural funds. Farms will only get funds if they commit
themselves to follow the principles of consumer protection,
environment protection and animal welfare. Agricultural policy has to
switch from quantity to quality. 

There is another compelling reason for quick reform of the CAP: We
cannot enlarge the Union with the current system, because it would be
simply too expensive. The Greens/EFA demand that funds given to the
accession countries is already given in a way which facilitates the
reorientation of their farm policies towards a sustainable and
environmentally friendly agricultural production."


Paul Lannoye, President of the Green/EFA Group, said:

"The Greens/EFA want to include the question of co-decision of the
European Parliament for the Common Agricultural Policy in the
so-called Post-Nice-Process. It is time that the CAP gets out of the
hands of small but mighty agricultural lobbies and subjected to
democratic control. Parliament has always been a guarantee for the
respect of the precautionary principle and consumer protection. We
call upon the heads of Government and State to give Parliament
co-decision rights at the EU Summit in Laeken next December."



Eurig Wyn MEP (EFA- Wales) member of the European parliament's
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee stressed that in order to
achieve a sustainable and integrated rural development, subsidies must
be redirected. He said:

"Rural development has been a neglected side issue of the Common
Agricultural policy. But Agriculture and rural development are like
hand and glove. What we propose is not to draw money away from
agriculture per say, but to direct it into new sustainable
communities. A direct link must be established between the agriculture
of an area and the communities that it sustains. 

"Mass production in agriculture has destroyed several small farm units
and consequently rural villages and towns that are dependent on a
thriving small farm sector. In my own community, where there were
thirty full time farmers twenty years ago, there are now only six.

"Recent criticisms of the CAP- although more than justified - should
not mean the end of a common policy in agriculture- but as a catalyst
for a new improved policy. For a policy that takes up 45% of the EU
total budget, cutting funding without restructuring will not work."  


End

Copies of the 10 point plan will be available on request. Please
e-mail ehaf@europarl.eu.int 

                 ***************************************

For more information: Press Office of the Green/EFA Group

Helmut Weixler: mobile phone: +32-475-67 13 40, phone: +32-2-284 46 83
(Bxl), +33-3-8817 4760 (Stb), e-mail: hweixler@europarl.eu.int

Eluned Haf: mobile phone: +32-497-48 02 55, phone: +32-2-284 1665
(Bxl), +33-3-8817 2936 (Stb), e.mail: ehaf@europarl.eu.int

Isabelle Zerrouk: mobile phone: +32-477-31 94 74, phone: +32-2-284
2742 (Bxl), +33-3-8817 4032(Stb), e-mail: izerrouk@europarl.eu.int
FAX: +32-2-284 4944 (Brussels), +33-3-88 241 196 (Strasbourg)


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