20 Amendments of John Stuart AGNEW related to 2016/2141(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission Notice 2014/C153/03 (withdrawal of obsolete Commission proposals),
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas access to land is a human rightnot universally recognized as a human right, as rights over land are defined at national level;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas land, as an increasingly scarce and non-renewable asset, should not be treated as an ordinary item of merchandise, and is furthermore doubly threatened both by the loss of agricultural land through soil sealing, urban development and rural house-building as a result of migration, environmental protection and infrastructure projects, and by; whereas the concentration of land in the hands of large- scale agricultural undertakings and investors from outside the farming sector can bring in efficiencies and sources of investment and innovation in farming;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas a broadthe distribution of assets in agricultural land is an essential founding principle of the social market economy and an important precondition for the social cohesion matter for Member State determination based on its own priorities in social cohesion, food security, and the rural vibrancy of a country’s economy;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas land ownership is the best way of ensuring a responsible relationship with the land and sustainable land management, and also fosters identification and a sense of belonging, encouraging people to remain in rural areas; whereas this has an impact on the socio-economic infrastructure of rural areas, and whereas the separation of ownership and possession increases the risk of a division within society, a loss in quality of work and life, and impoverishmentcan offer valuable opportunities for new entrants into farming and to encourage efficient and business-focused tenant farm enterprises;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the concentration of farmland may result successive Common Agricultural Policy reforms have had the specific objective of securing a better quality of life for farmers by reducing the loss ofoverall number of farmers and agricultural jobs;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas, if the agricultural sector is to have a future, it depends on the younger generation, as this is the only way to halt the ageing of the farming population and secure farm succession, and whereas on the other hand it is particularly difficult for young farmers and new entrepreneurs to gain access to land, demonstrating why national policies as to inheritance, taxation, land tenure and ownership are so important;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas farmland prices and rents have risenarea-based farm payments, biofuel subsidies and pressure on land from other uses have resulted in farmland prices and rents rising in many regions to a level which makes it economically impossible for many farms to hold on to rented land ordifficult for new entrants and existing farms to acquire the additional land needed to keep farms viable, as there is hardly any land on the marketresulting in ambitious and successful farmers looking to take on farm tenancies of smaller farms and to new opportunities to acquire farm enterprises often in other Member States;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Takes the view that land policy must help to ensure ais a national competence, and whilst it may be socially desirable to have a broad distribution of land ownership, as it has direct implications for everyone’srural living and working conditions and quality of life, and notes the important social function of land ownership given that a loss of farms and jobs will lead to the collapse of European smallholder agriculture and the demise of rural areas, and thus to structural changes that are undesirable for society as a wholedemise of rural areas, it is not a matter for European legislation;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recommends that the Member States give farmers priority in the purchase of farmland, particularly at a time when non-farmers are increasingly interested in purchasing agricultural plotswelcome non-agricultural investment in food and farming as new entrants bring fresh thinking and investment, subject to nationally defined safeguards as to use of soil and land tenure;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Takes the view that Member States' land market policy shcould help make it easier for young peoplenew entrants to enter agriculture, over and above the encouragement for young farmers enshrined in the common agricultural policy; calls, therefore, for a comprehensive approach that helps enable qualified young farmers and new entrepreneurs to take over or start farms;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls for the implementation by the EU, in the interest of developing a clear EU guiding principle for the structure of farming, of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which has been ratified by all Member States, whilst acknowledging that this should not grant the EU de facto competence over Member State competencies in the area of land tenure;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes the view that Member States should be able to choose whether 30% of direct payments should be payable on the first hectare, provided that the requirements of Articles 41 and 42 of the Direct Payments Regulation are complied with;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recommends to that end the adoption of a uniform definition throughout the EU of ‘active farmer’ which is clearly linked to the notion of work on a farm, whilst acknowledging that there is no standard definition of "active farmer" due to the wide disparity in economic and activity risk taken on by farmers depending on prevailing national farm business structures;
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Endorses the Commission’s finding that land is a finite resource which is already under much pressure as a result of climate change, migration, soil erosion and over- exploitation, and calls for farmland to be given special protection with a view to compliance with the four fundamental European freedoms, so that the Member States can regulate the sale and letting of agricultural landdemand for agricultural land for alternative uses in the light of social and environmental criteria;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to draw up and publish a list of criteria making it clear to the Member States what land market regulation measures are permitted in the context of the four freedoms of the European Union, with particular reference given to the social mobility reasons as to why rural areas are becoming depopulated in the new Member States and corresponding pressure on land for house-building in the old Member States;