Activities of Richard ASHWORTH related to 2009/2236(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Future of the CAP after 2013 (debate)
Amendments (38)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, to date, the Common Agricultural Policy has met its goals with regard to achieving better productivity in the food chain, contributing to a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, market stabilisation and the provision of food supplies to EU consumers at reasonable prices, yet at a cost to the taxpayer and the developing world.
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas agriculture remains an important sector of the economy and at the same time provides essential public goods by maintaining natural resources and cultural landscapes, a precondition for all human activities in rural areas,
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas price volatility in agricultural markets has increased dramatically and is expected to increase further, leading to extreme booms and busts in agricultural commodity prices on European markets; whereas between 2006 and 2008, the prices of several commodities rose considerably, some by as much as 180%, as was the case for grains; whereas dairy prices collapsed in 2009, falling on average by 40%; whereas extreme fluctuations in prices have had detrimental consequences for producers and have not always benefited consumers,
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas, as a result of these reforms, the EU has become a net importer of agricultural goods with over €78 billion worth of products being imported each year (around 20% of world agricultural imports); whereas in some cases the balance of trade has steadily shifted in favour of third countries (the EU now imports €19 billion worth of agricultural products from Mercosur countries and only exports under €1 billion worth to the region); whereas the EU continues to experience a widening trade deficit in agricultural products,
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas the EU must continue to ensure food security for its citizens as well as help feed the world's poor; whereas the number of hungry people now exceeds 1 billion and in the European Union today there are over 40 million poor people who do not have enough to eat, believes that all scientific avenues to increase food production should be explored in order to ensure that world hunger is alleviated.
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas global food demand is expected to double and world population is predicted to grow from 6 billion today to 9 billion by 2050 according to the FAO, and global food production will need to increase accordingly against a background of pressure on natural resources, meaning that the world will need to produce more food whilst using less water, less land, less fertilisers and less pesticides.
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the CAP has undergone radical reforms over the last 25 years, in particular bringing about a fundamental shift from production support to producer support3 , endreducing regular intervention buying and the dumping of European surpluses on world markets4 and making the CAP and EU farmers more market- oriented;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that CAP market instruments are now used as safety nets to help manage market volatility and ensure a certain degree of stability and that, moreover, since the adoption of decoupled Single Farm Payments there has been a resolute move away from trade-distorting measures in line with WTO requirements; however, there is a need for further reaching reform.
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the fact that the 2003 CAP reform and the 2008 Health Check have allowed EU farmers to better respond and react to market signals and conditions; and would seek for this trend to continue in further reforms.
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that the CAP is the most integrated of all EU policies and therefore logically accounts for the largest share of the EU budget; recognises that its share of the budget has steadily decreased from about 75% of the total EU budget in 1985 to 39.3% by 20135 , representing less than 0.45% of total EU GDP6 , whilst at the same time support is more thinly spread today with 12 new Member States joining the EU;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that food security remains the central challenge for EUglobal agriculture as the world population is predicted to growcontinues to grow; having risen from 2.5 billion to 6 billion from 1950 to 2000 and being projected to increase from 6 to 9 billion by 2050 and; demand for food will double by 2050 according to the FAO (especially in emerging economies such as China or India);
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Urges the Commission to consider the reform of the CAP in the context of future challenges, including food security, climate change, population growth, the integration of markets, and the competition for resources; and considers these challenges the main drivers for the re-design of the CAP;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. In respect of food security, insists that the Commission takes due and proper account of the Policy Coherence for Development agenda to ensure that CAP reform is consistent with other EU initiatives with regard to its impact on Developing Countries.
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Expects the Commission to honour commitments made in the Doha Development Agenda to abolish export refunds as part of CAP reform.
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. With regard to projections for global population growth, encourages the Commission to pursue CAP reform in tandem with open market policies to ensure that food is not only produced but reaches consumers at the most affordable prices.
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Believes that agriculture is well placed to make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change by continuing to reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, making use of new technologies and increasing carbon sequestration;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Is of the opinion that a strongmart, inclusive and green European Common Agricultural Policy is needed to ensure that EU farmers remain competitive on the world market against well subsidised trading partners; believes that the EU cannot afford to rely on other parts of the world toan open international trading environment and a successful conclusion to the Doha development Agenda can help provide for European and global food security in the context of climate change, political instability in certain regions of the world and potential outbreaks of diseases or other events potentially detrimental to production capacity;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recalls, as Article 39 of the Lisbon Treaty rightly suggests, that agriculture is a specific sector which suffers from a long- term production cycle and several types of market failure such as high market volaack of demand elastilcity, great exposure to natural disasters, a high level of risk, lack of demand end a long-term production cycle giving rise to high market volasticlity, and the fact that farmers are 'price-takers' rather than 'price-makers' in the food supply-chainwhich can be problematic for farmers if it affects the volatility of farm income;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Points out that there is an urgent need to attract younger generations to rural areas and provide new and alternative economic opportunities for them to ensure a sustainable rural population; however, support mechanisms must ensure young people are able to enter the agriculture industry with relative ease;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Recognises that a greater focus on Pillar 2 can help ensure that the CAP is more targeted and can help deliver the environmental public goods that the public seeks;
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Believes, in line with the latest research available, that without a common agricultural policy, unbalanced modes of production wcould develop across the EU (extreme intensification on the best land and widespread land abandonment in disadvantaged areas), causing serious damage topotentially causing negative consequences for the environment; insists that the cost of support through a strong CAPo provide public goods by delivering non-market benefits is nothing compared to the costs of no action and its negative unintended consequences;
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32 a. Recognises that consumers should have a choice in the produce they buy and that farmers should be rewarded for providing high quality produce to them;
Amendment 382 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
32 b. Rural development schemes need to be adequately funded. If the current system of using modulated funds from Pillar one to fund rural development persists, modulation should be further increased to ensure that rural development schemes are adequately funded. Modulation should only take place on a compulsory basis across Europe to ensure a level playing field throughout the internal market. There should be no provision for member states to impose additional voluntary modulation
Amendment 387 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Insists that the maintenance of farming activity across the whole of Europe is fundamental to maintain diverse and local food production and prevent the threat of land abandonment across EU territoryMember States;
Amendment 391 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls for the guarantee of a fair and stable return for the farming community to remain a primary goal for the new CAP, whilst providing good value for money and a fair return for consumers through increasing competitiveness in the agricultural sector and allowing farmers to respond to market signals;
Amendment 486 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43 a. Believes that farmers should be able to take advantage of new technologies which have the potential to allow production to increase whilst reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers, land and water. Insists however that the use of new technology in agriculture should not undermine the ability of any farmer to choose what production method they use, or the ability of the consumer to choose food produced by different production methods.
Amendment 503 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44 a (new)
Paragraph 44 a (new)
44 a. Believes that safeguards need to be introduced to ensure that biotechnology can be further used in agriculture without impacting on existing production methods.
Amendment 511 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Recognises the wide range of new priorities for the CAP and notes that the new Member States' expectation when they joined the European Union was that CAP support would, over time, reach parity with old Member States; therefore calls for the 2013 CAP budget amount to be at least maintained post-2013 if the EU is to meet its current commitments and successfully deliver the new priorities; in the context of a full reassessment of CAP priorities.
Amendment 527 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 a (new)
Paragraph 45 a (new)
45 a. In line with the spring European Council Conclusion on Europe 2020, expects the re-design of the CAP to provide instruments that deliver smart, inclusive, green growth;
Amendment 534 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Calls for the CAP budget to have an small end-of-year flexibility mechanism in order to carry over and reallocate under- spends in the following year;, provided any reallocation resides within Heading 2 of the EU budget, however, the majority of the excess funds should be returned to the Member States.
Amendment 536 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46 a. Expects the Commission to rigorously enforce financial discipline, in line with annual ceilings, to ensure that state support delivered through the CAP achieves its objectives and delivers value for money for both the citizens who subsidise it and the farmers who benefit;
Amendment 548 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
47. Insists that the CAP should not be renationalised and therefore, however, believes that while core direct support should remain fully financed by the EU budget, hence rejecting any further co- financing which could harm fair competition within the EU Single Marketin the 1st pillar must be explored;
Amendment 550 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 – introductory part
Paragraph 48 – introductory part
48. Calls for a fair distribution of CAP funds to farmers across the EU; recalls that to respect the diversity of farming in the EU, objective criteria must be found in order to define a fair system of distribution which minimises distortions between and within Member States:
Amendment 586 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Believes that, in the interest of simplification, clarity and a common approach, funding for each of the five building blocks of the CAP must be agreed from the start of the reformas part of negotiations on the financial perspectives and in relation to decisions taken on other Community spending programmes;
Amendment 595 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Believes that direct support should move to an area basis in all Member States by 2020, allowing those that are still using the historical payments system the flexibility to phase in the difficult changes at their own speed9 with this being a promary objective of post-2013 reform;
Amendment 615 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Considers that there should be no return to coupled payments as a guiding principle of the CAP; however, given the move from a historical to an area support model, takes the view that a limited margin for flexibility should be left to Member States to respond to the specific needs of their territory, in the form of capped coupled payments for vulnerable grassland livestock areas, in compliance with WTO requirements whilst ensuring a free, fair and level playing field for farmers across the EU;
Amendment 672 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Believes that an EU-funded top-up direct area payment should be made available to farmers through simple contracts rewarding them for reducing their carbon emissions per unit of production and increasing EU agriculture should be put on the same footing as otheir sequestration of carbon; notes that this would have the double benefit of making EU agriculture more environmentally and economically sustainable through improved efficiency and would also ensure that farmers can financially benefit from increased carbon sequestration on their land and put them on the same footing as other industries which are industries which are in the EU ETS; asks for clear and measurable criteria and targets to be defined; calls for consideration to be made into how farmers can be rewarded for reducing the EU ETS; calls for clear and measurable criteria and targets to be defined appropriately to allow these payments to be implemented as soon as possibleir carbon emissions and increasing their sequestration of carbon;