Activities of Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI related to 2019/2131(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on) competition policy – annual report 2019
Amendments (20)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas the Regulation establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products contains certain derogations from the application of Article 101(1) TFEU either generally for all sectors or specifically for certain agricultural sectors;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
A b. whereas EU farmers continue to suffer from a lack of integration into producers’ organizations making their position within the food supply chain highly vulnerable and decreasing their bargaining power;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
A c. whereas the future CAP should focus on supporting small and family farms whilst ensuring that sustainable farming practices are being implemented; whereas such goals can only be achieved by a coherent approach across all EU policies, including competition policy;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
A d. whereas unforeseeable natural disasters and events are likely to make the market for agricultural products even more volatile and subject to crisis; notes, in this regard, the importance of access to exceptional measures which aim to preserve the market stability;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
A e. whereas the competitiveness of EU farmers highly depends on proper and fair functioning of internal market as well as clear interpretation and enforcement of state aids and competition policy rules over all agri-food chain operators;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the study on producer organisations and their activities in the olive oil, beef and veal, and arable crops sectors, which reaffirms the importance of these organisations and their associations in strengthening the position of primary producers in the food chain; notes that the study highlighted that in these sectors there are overall five times more unrecognised producer organisations/associations of producer organisations than those formally recognised; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to raise awareness of the benefits of having producers' organizations recognized under the CMO Regulation;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Welcomes the study on agricultural interbranch organisations in the European Union
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the adoption of the Directive on unfair trade practices4 in the agricultural and food supply chain and calls on the Commission to monitor closely progress on transposition thereofand functioning thereof; notes that this Directive constitutes a first step towards the protection of farmers and towards addressing the imbalance of power in the EU food supply chain and as such needs to be further enhanced to keep pace with future development of unfair trading practices; _________________ 4Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain (OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 59.
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that the public demand for more sustainable food systems needs to be addressed, and calls on the Commission to clarify the conditions under which sustainable agreements can be exempted from competition law, namely in the framework of the current review of the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations and related guidelines; Reaffirms its view that the Commission should issue general guidelines to clarify under which conditions the private sector can come together to agree on collectively increasing sustainability in a sector without breaching competition law; considers that such guidelines are particularly relevant to the agricultural sector due to the environmental challenges it must face and the sustainability requirements it must meet;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Welcomes the proposal for the Single Market Programme, and, more specifically, the food chain actions supported under the proposed Programme, such as veterinary and phytosanitary measures to address animal and plant health crises; urges the Council and the Parliament to swiftly conclude the negotiations and adopt the Regulation;
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Underlines the importance of timely conclusions on the two proposals for Transition Regulations, which have been put forward by the Commission, in order to avoid delays and complications that could lead to market instability;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6 c. Welcomes the ongoing Fitness Check of the 2012 state aid modernisation package and, more specifically, the ongoing revision of the Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation (ABER) and European Union Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture and forestry sector (GL) which will cease to apply on 31 December2020;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6 d. Welcomes the completion of the Agricultural de minimis Regulation review; points out that the increase of the maximum aid amount per single undertaking and of the national cap combined with the application of a sector cap will help farms to cope with climatic challenges while preventing any market distortions;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6 e. Considers it essential that the Commission continues its detailed monitoring of the EU market for pesticides, seeds and traits, as well as to monitor the impact of digitalization on the agricultural sector;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6 f. Welcomes the publication of the Commission’s Report on the application of competition rules in the agricultural sector; notes the fact that significant part of the competition law infringements in the agricultural sector are committed by processors of agricultural products while most of the complaints originate from farmers; calls for the effective supervision by the Commission of the companies active in the market of food processing;
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 g (new)
Paragraph 6 g (new)
Amendment 126 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 h (new)
Paragraph 6 h (new)
6 h. Draws attention to the growing amount of protests by farmers organized as a result of concerns over the impact of the introduction of stricter environmental and animal welfare standards at EU level coupled with the proposed cuts of the CAP budget; notes that the impact of trade deals on the agriculture sector is also a cause for concern for these farmers and calls on the Commission to present, as soon as possible, its latest report on the cumulative impact of ongoing and future trade deals;
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 i (new)
Paragraph 6 i (new)
6 i. Urges the Commission to set up a permanent EU-level information platform on risk management tools to help farmers cope with the uncertainty of climate, market volatility and other risks where stakeholders can exchange best practices, as communicated in its Communication on the future of food and farming from November 2017;
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 j (new)
Paragraph 6 j (new)
6 j. Urges the Commission to swiftly unroll the “Farm to Fork Strategy” aiming at achieving sustainability across the whole food supply chain; notes that such a strategy would require a coherent approach encompassing all EU policies; points out, in this regard, that safeguarding fair competition and ensuring a level playing field for all businesses is essential in order to successfully promote the start-ups in the food sector and reach the economic targets;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 k (new)
Paragraph 6 k (new)
6 k. Calls on the Commission to provide transparent analysis summarizing the impact of all different forms of EU an national support in agri-food sector on the proper and fair functioning of the internal market;