29 Amendments of Ulrike MÜLLER related to 2015/2324(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas agriculture and tourism in the Alpine region have a major impact on the conservation of the environment, traditional landscapes and biodiversity,
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the importance of the Alpine region as a place for people to live, work and relax in, thanks to the vital contributions made by agriculture and forestry, tourism and craft trades; stresses that these sectors are of crucial value in the sustainable development of the region, as they secure a high-quality food supply, maintain the population in outlying areas, maintain the cultural landscape, and preserve ecosystems by means of sustainable biodiversity, soil and water protection; welcomes the EU Alpine Strategy as a way to improve economic, environmental and social development in the Alpine region;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses the need for initiatives to improve mobility, digital infrastructure, energy supply and social migration; considers it necessary for specific traditions in the fields of land use, craft trades and tourism to be preserved when implementing the strategy;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Maintains that the Alpine region constitutehas a vast reserve of natural and landscape, habitat and economic potential, given the exceptional variety of ecosystems to be found there;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that in the Alpine region largely man-made urbanised environments coexist alongside areas of sparsely populated mountain country; takes the view that the strategy should focus primarily on the latterAlpine mountain regions because they have immense potential for the region as a whole;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that climate change poses serious risks from the point of view of hydrogeological instability and biodiversity and that the melting of glaciers is a further cause of concern; points to the need, therefore, to promote production models based on the circular economy and short cycles in food supplies, with the emphasis on preference for local materials and food, reuse, and service sharing;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Points out that cascading use of renewable resources is a principle which if regulated and enforced by law will become a large interference with property rights and might hinder innovation especially for SME:s;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that the mountain farming is exposed to climate-related natural disasters, such as floods, avalanches and mudslides; calls for the promotion of risk prevention measures (for example, flood protection schemes);
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that not enough is being done to attain the objectives of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC; calls on the Commission, in implementing the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, to observe Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora in order to ensure more sustainable water management; stresses that, in so doing, cooperation should be given preference over regulation;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls for the introduction of a specific quality label for mountain products, initiatives to develop new high-quality products and better safeguards, in particular by specifying a protected designation of origin for products from the Alpine region;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Considers it particularly important to give young farmers long-term prospects in order to address rural depopulation; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote transnational initiatives to support entrepreneurship, emerging industries and the labour market in agriculture and forestry;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Highlights the importance of agritourism as a source of income for small-scale farmers (e. g. farm holidays); calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish programmes to support investment and entrepreneurship; considers it important to support those farms through specific tourism campaigns;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Considers it necessary, given the economic importance of tourism for the entire Alpine region, to continue to support the development of ‘soft’ tourism; points, on the basis of best practices, such as the tourism platform ‘Alpine Pearls’, created as part of the EU-funded project Alps Mobility, to achievements so far which should be built on;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers it necessary to tap renewable and alternativ, decentralised and alternative energy sources in order effectively to reduce emissions of pollutants and to contribute to the preservation of the natural environment; stresses the importance of grid integration and storage as well as the expansion of the necessary infrastructure for mobility based on renewable and alternative fuels to ensure the success of these energy sources;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers it necessary to tap renewable and alternative energy sources and expand the model of decentralised energy production and energy supply, inter alia through the Smart Grid systems;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Points up the important role of agriculture and rural resources in providing social and educational care for particularly vulnerable people; calls on the Commission to promote social agricultural activities, since, for mountain farmers in particular, they represent a new way of providing alternative services;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Emphasises the importance of hydropower for energy supplies in mountain regions and calls therefore for the population living in the Alps also to be able to manage hydropower and exploit it commercially;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Maintains that land use and occupation need to be regulated in order to ensure that land is used sustainablyFinds it regrettable that agricultural land is becoming increasingly scarce due to non-agricultural uses such as road construction, designation of building land and requirements for ecological compensation areas at the expense of the very limited farmland available, particularly in valleys, which in many cases leads to farms being abandoned; calls for the establishment of practical support schemes and requirements to ensure the long-term availability of land for agriculture and forestry use;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls for the prospective and current regulatory framework for farms throughout the Alpine region, in particular under the CAP, to be harmonised and simplified respectively; points up the need for specific additional support based on factors such as soil assessment and gradients in order to make it possible to farm sustainably on steep hillsides;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Considers it important that the EU Alpine strategy should be carried out with existing financial resources, such as the 2014-2020 Structural and Investment Funds, and that no new funding should be introduced; stresses that they must be used efficiently in order to carry out the strategy with greater coordination;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Regrets the inadequate accessibility of economic areas, which undermines efficient mountain farming in the Alps and hence the competitiveness of these regions; urges the Commission and the Member States to create an appropriate infrastructure system, which should include the development of suitable farm and forest tracks and alpine trails and access to a high-speed mobile data network for the Alpine regions;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Welcomes the establishment of a macroregional governance model for the Alpine region so as to foster cross-border cooperation in agriculture and forestry; regards it as important in this connection that there should be improved exchanges of information and experience, on a transnational basis, between associations and producer organisations in the areas of livestock and crop farming and forestry by setting up regular symposia;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Emphasises that the development of new initiatives requires regional solutions and participatory approaches, with harmonisation of existing and new initiatives, in order to maximise benefit for mountain farming in the Alps and reduce administrative barriers; points out that the Alpine Convention, EU cohesion policy and existing EU initiatives must be taken into account;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Considers it especially important that agriculture and forestry stakeholders should be instrumental in carrying out the Commission's action plan at regional level so that a participatory approach and specific issues can be acted on locally;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls for inclusion, coordination and cooperation with existing Alpine cooperation initiatives such as the Alpine Convention in order to arrive at common policies and goals.
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Calls on the Commission to introduce noise emission limits in Alpine goods transport and stronger incentive schemes to encourage investment in noise reduction measures on the main transport routes.
Amendment 108 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Calls for a macro-regional Alpine strategy that will allow sustainable use of land and nature and hence an economic area and biosphere based on coexistence between nature and people, so as to avoid further population exodus that would have a negative impact on nature and landscape protection.