Activities of Miguel VIEGAS related to 2014/2147(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
The fruit and vegetables sector since the 2007 reform (A8-0170/2015 - Nuno Melo) PT
The fruit and vegetables sector since the 2007 reform (short presentation) PT
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the fruit and vegetables sector since the 2007 reform PDF (203 KB) DOC (138 KB)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ba (new)
Recital Ba (new)
Ba. whereas abandoning public policies and allowing the market to act has weakened producers’ bargaining power still further. Therefore, as an instrument for increasing bargaining power, POs have not achieved their objectives;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the share of the total value of F&V production marketed by POs in the Union has shown a gradual increase, from 31 % in 2004 to 47 % in 2012, indicating that POs have strengthened theidespite which they have not succeeded in maintaining remunerative prices for proleducers;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. Whereas the organisation rate among producers remains low on average, there was however an increase, which was also due to the closure of thousands of small farms throughout Europe;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. Whereas the total EU agricultural area cropped with F&V fell by 6 % between 2003 and 2010, indicating that farmers switched to other crops; whereas, according to the 2015 AREFLH study, this decline was greater in southern Europe than in northern Europe;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the total EU agricultural area cropped with F&V fell by 6 % between 2003 and 2010, indicating that farmers have switched to other crops or, in many cases, have given up farming; whereas, according to the 2015 AREFLH study, this decline was greater in southern Europe than in northern Europe;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ha (new)
Recital Ha (new)
H A. Whereas the fall in production and consumption of fruit and vegetables was more pronounced in the countries of southern Europe due to austerity policies, which caused significant falls in income, leading to the inability of families to purchase fresh fruit and vegetable products and the adoption by families of an unhealthy diet.
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the volume of fruit & vegetable production has also fallen in recent years, whilst its value has tended to remain stable in real terms, reaching EUR 48.25 billion in 2012 despite which it has not been able to offer farm gate prices in line with production costs and wages;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. Whereas data from Freshfel Europe indicates that consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables in the EU-28 stood at 387 g a day per capita in 2012, a decrease of 8.7 % as compared with the average for the 2007-11 period; whereas this decline seems to reflect long-term trends towards greater consumption of processed foods, and the impact of the economic crisia model that promotes the consumption of these fast-food products at the expense of traditional diets based on vegetables and seasonal fruits;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. Whereas the crisis caused by the Russian ban has had significant negative effects on the F&V sector; whereas this situation stems from a political position of the EU and that the consequences should be borne by the EU budget regardless of underlining the importance of the existence of strong POs to collectively deal with unexpected and adverse situations should be stressed;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas the crisis caused by the Russian ban has had significant negative effects on the F&V sector; whereas the importance of the existence of strong POs to collectively deal with unexpected and adverse situations must be underlinedit must be underlined that these crises should be addressed with adequate policies;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. Whereas the Commission’s report identifies complexity of rules and lack of legal certainty as weaknesses of the current F&V regime, omitting the inappropriateness of these rules for the specific nature of small and medium-sized family farms; whereas Commissioner Hogan has committed himself to simplifying the regime in the first year of his term;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Qa (new)
Recital Qa (new)
Q A. Whereas the fact that only one third of the funds have effectively been used by POs:
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomeRejects the Commission’s report, which despite attempting to provides a balanced picture of the evolution of the F&V regime since the 2007 reform, identifying areas where progress has been achieved whils, makes no reference to the underlying problem, which is the abandonment of public policies for this sector. And whilst it also referrings to problems that persist; it offers no solutions to them;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to intensify effortadopt mandatory regulations to tackle unfair trading practices (UTPs) in the food supply chain which negatively impact producer returns, depress incomes and threaten the viability and sustainability of the sector;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that the degree of organisation of the sector, as measured by the share of the total value of F&V production marketed by OPOs, has steadily increased in recent years in the Union as a whole, although at the cost of closing thousands of farms and the desertification of large areas of land;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises that, despite this increase, the degree of organisation among producers remains low on average and takes very different forms across countries and regions of the EU, and that addressing this problem is crucial for the future of the F&V regime;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises that, despite this increase, the degree of organisation among producers remains low on average and that addressing this problem is crucial fordue to the fact that POs cannot resolve the issue of decent prices and that active policies are required to ensure the future of the F&V regime;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5a (new)
Paragraph 5a (new)
5a. Emphasises that it is important to strengthen the role of professional farmers’ organisations by establishing collective bargaining frameworks involving both businesses and professional organisations and assigning the role of arbitrator to the public authorities and making it possible to reach agreements on minimum farm gate prices;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses in this context that it is important to increase the overall level of support to POs and to provide stronger incentives both for the merging of existing POs and the creation of new ones , considering that only 1/3 of the potential of EU aid is being used; Considers it necessary to reflect very seriously about the system and the need to promote ways to get aid to those in need;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Commission, in its upcoming review of implementing legislation and as part of its ‘simplification’ agenda, to increase legal certainty for national administrations and POs and to reduce the administrative burden imposed on them; stresses that this review should not change the basic structure of the scheme with regard to fruit and vegetables;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers that reducing complexity, including in the rules for creating new POs and respective limits, should be the first step in making them more attractive for farmers; requests that the Commission identify additional measures for increasing the attractiveness of POs; and include social and economic value criteria for small and medium-sized farms corresponding to the need to preserve the rural environment and the sustainability of the sector;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers that reducing complexity, including in the rules for creating new POs, should be the first step in making them more attractive for farmers; requests that the Commission identify additional measures for increasing the attractiveness of POAsks the Commission to guarantee that when distributing funds for cases of crisis (such as the Russian ban) not belonging to a PO will not be an impediment to receiving those funds;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that associations of producer organisations (AOPs) could play an important role in increasing the bargaining power of farmers and urges the Commission to reinforce incentives for setting up APOs and envisage a greater role for them in the future, although this measure cannot be divorced from effective measures to combat abusive practices in the retail industry and the need to control imports from third countries;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Is adamant that third-country production methods for exports to the EU must provide European consumers with the same guarantees in terms of health, food safety, animal welfare, sustainable development and minimum social standards as those required of EU producers; calls on the Commission to do everything possible to exclude agricultural products from TTIP negotiations, taking into account the sensitivity of this sector and the significant regulatory differences between the EU and the USA;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Urges the Commission to identify the reasons for the reducedminimal take-up of crisis prevention and management (CPM) instruments (only 16% of POs used this resource, which represented only 2.8% of total aid) and to consider how the situation can be improved, taking into account examples of best practice among existing POs;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that encouraging healthier eating habits goes hand in hand with understanding more about farming and how food is produced and, supports, in this context, the objective of strengthening the educational dimension of the school fruit and milk programmes, highlighting the need to involve fruit and vegetable producers and defend local marketing and consumption networks, thereby promoting social and regional cohesion;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 A. Whereas the promotion of healthy eating habits also involves boosting the purchasing power of households and providing access to affordable products, which is incompatible with policies that promote unemployment, increasingly low wages and cuts in social benefits;