Activities of Juozas OLEKAS related to 2023/0264(BUD)
Plenary speeches (1)
General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)
Amendments (19)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls the Parliament resolution on “Upscaling the 2021-2027 MFF: a resilient EU budget fit for new challenges”; calls for an urgent revision of the EU long-term budget to respond more effectively to evolving needs, address funding gaps, increase flexibility and crisis responsiveness, and provide new funding for new political priorities, while maintaining that the repayment of recovery plan borrowing does not jeopardise EU programmes; calls on the Commission to present a proposal for a new batch of new resources as soon as possible;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the role that agriculture plays in achieving the Union objectives of food security, sustainable growth, social inclusion, and combating climate change, while helping to diversify agricultural production, preserve biodiversity and develop local economies;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses the need to increase allocations for military mobility in 2024 budget and during the MFF revision. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine shows the need of increasing the budget for military mobility projects, that would improve the speed of military response in case of aggression, and also will help civilian infrastructure needs, including rail transport of Ukrainian grain to the EU Member States' seaports.
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out the negative effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on food security, and stresses the rapidly increasing importance of food and feed sovereignty;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that inflation has been much higher than the 2 % deflator foreseen in the MFF, which will not compensate for the loss of value, imposing further strains on farmers’ profitability, especially small- scale and young farmers; highlights the fact that the CAP budget in the MFF 2021-27 is already lower than in the previous planning period and that the high inflation further depreciates the funding available to farmers particularly in the CAP Budget;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is committed to ensuring that generational renewalConsiders that that the demographic challenge of ageing population is of particular concern in rural areas and is committed to ensuring that generational renewal, as the key for social, economic and environmental sustainability of rural areas and EU food autonomy, the future of agriculture and the traditional family farming model, must remain a high priority in the future CAP programming period; calls for the strengthening of support measures for young farmers and for the improvement of their access to land and credit;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the importance of redistributive income support mechanisms in supporting smaller and medium-sized farms and ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of Union funds;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector; recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level, in particular through the Horizon Europe programme and the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), recalls the importance of ensuring that research results reach farm level and are translated into accessible farm advisory services, underlines the role of stronger agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), as well as the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) to encourage innovation projects and to diffuse their use;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the acceleration of the digital transformation in agriculture and rural areas to allow for more precise, efficient and sustainable agricultural systems in the EU with a higher environmental performance, as well as increase the attractiveness of employment in agriculture and rural communities for younger generations;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Emphasises the important role of agri-cooperatives, and calls on Member States to provide more support for the cooperative sector to develop incentive schemes for setting up new cooperatives, helping to boost the competitiveness of the agri-food sector and the economic and social development of rural areas; stresses that this collaboration can help cooperatives’ members to adapt more easily to climate change, increase efficiency and diversify their production;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans. Recalls that implementation of common agricultural policy (CAP) strategic plans began in January 2023, putting in place CAP’s new green architecture and taking an important step in the transition towards more sustainable food systems in the EU, emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans; encourages Member States to improve the quality of data and indicators reported to the Union in order to realize the full potential of the new performance-based CAP and accurately assess its impact;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Welcomes the mobilisation of the crisis reserve to finance exceptional measures for Union farmers most affected by the war in Ukraine, climate events and market disturbances, recalls, however, that the crisis reserve only consists of about EUR 3 per hectare of the farmland in the EU, emphasises the urgent need for additional better-funded instruments for crisis management;
Amendment 91 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Recalls that, according to the Court of Auditors’ special report, climate spending in the 2014-2019 budget was not as high as reported, and that reliability issues could remain in the Commission's reporting for the 2021-2027 period, when the EU’s new climate spending target will rise to 30%, calls on the Commission to report on the contribution made by climate spending to EU climate and energy objectives, focusing in particular on measuring the impact of the budget on mitigating climate change and review the methodology of climate mainstreaming accountability, to allow better decision- making to ensure a full transition to a sustainable agricultural sector;
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Recalls the Court of Auditors’ Special report on conflict of interest in EU cohesion and agricultural spending, calls on the Commission to take action to improve the prevention, detection and reporting of conflicts of interests, and to promote transparency;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11d. Calls for the Commission to maintain an adequate level of funding in order to preserve the high sanitary and phytosanitary status in the EU, and rejects any decrease in co-financing rates for sanitary programmes and control of emerging diseases, which may jeopardise animal and plant health, and thus human health in the EU;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 e (new)
Paragraph 11 e (new)
11e. Points out the significant potential of results-based carbon farming for tackling climate change through carbon sequestration and the preservation of biodiversity and eco-systems;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 f (new)
Paragraph 11 f (new)
11f. Emphasises the value that circular economy and the agricultural sectors that work according to its principles can bring in achieving the goals set in the European Green Deal, encourages pilot projects to improve knowledge and increase the understanding of possible benefits of circular economy principles for the European food system;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 g (new)
Paragraph 11 g (new)
11g. Reaffirms the significance of the Union's school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme to help children follow a healthy diet, with nutrition its primary focus; invites Member States to fully use their allocations of those schemes and prioritise sustainable, local, and high-quality production;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 h (new)
Paragraph 11 h (new)
11h. Stresses the importance of Solidarity Lanes in ensuring that Ukrainian grain can reach countries most in need, supporting Ukraine's economy and preventing a global food crisis, notices, however, the impact of the surge in traffic, and calls on the Commission to provide funding for strengthening and improving the relevant infrastructure.