Activities of Bronis ROPĖ related to 2022/0212(BUD)
Plenary speeches (1)
General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023 - all sections (debate)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023 - all sections
Amendments (19)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Regrets that, as stated by the Commission, this 2023 budget proposal does not yet take into account all the additional needs for funds due to the war in Ukraine; Highlights that the modifications to the budget proposal, expected towards the end of September, will not enable a full democratic consideration of the budget involving all committees of the parliament;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Regrets that overall appropriations are down 7.5% in the Heading 3: Natural Resources and Environment; Regrets in particular the cuts of 27.2 million (-3.6%) made to the LIFE programme and calls to reverse this cut;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. is committed to ensuring generational renewal in the agricultural sector by facilitating the takeover of farms by young people and by women, and calls to maintain levels of support to young farmers; Notes the new methodology piloted in 2023 to track the contribution to gender equality, based on policy design and resource allocation;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to allocate budget resources to design and implement measures to fight gender gaps; notes the crucial need for providing women entrepreneurs in rural areas with an enabling environment, including legal and political considerations, leading to greater access to information, knowledge and skills, as well as facilitating access to financial resources, leading to the creation of more jobs in rural areas;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Notes that depopulation has a negative impact on the agriculture and rural, remote areas; emphasizes that this increases economic as well as the risk of poverty and social exclusion; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to pay more attention to the financing of rural areas by the Regional Development Fund and cohesion policy; Calls for EU programmes to focus on projects that promote and enhance the safeguarding of existing jobs in the agriculture sector and the creation of quality jobs with adequate rights and stable and regulated pay and working conditions, as well as effectively and decisively combating poverty and social exclusion in rural areas;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Notes the growing need for highly qualified young professionals in the regions, and calls on Member States to take necessary measures, including financial incentives, to encourage young people to study agricultural professions, as well as to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from older people to the younger generation;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. stresses the importance of funding research and innovation in the agri-food sector through the budget of the Horizon Europe programme, EIPs, pilot projects, and preparatory actions and the introduction of assisted evolution technologies; recalls the need for farmers to be provided with technical assistance; recalls the need for farmers to be provided with independent and impartial technical assistance; highlights the necessity to ensure that the results of research and innovation reaches farm level;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Highlights the central role played by Community Led Local Development initiatives in keeping and restoring living and thriving local rural economies, and the need to keep a sufficient level of funding for LEADER; Calls on the Member states to make full use of LEADER's capacities;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. welcomes the Union's efforts to accelerate the digital transformation in agriculture and in rural areas; notes that, despite the digitalisation agenda, a recent ECA report highlights that basic obstacles such as lack of standardisation of data formats means that much agricultural data is still not used efficiently or to its full potential;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Underlines that the ecological transition in food production could be a win-win-win situation for primary producers, the environment, and society as a whole; highlights that, in consequence, the European Green Deal, and in particular the Farm to Fork strategy, can open up new opportunities in rural areas and a new dynamic for a more resilient future, while ensuring a just and inclusive transition; therefore calls the Commission and MS to use as much support as possible to ensure these goals;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6 c. Calls for the 2023 EU budget to genuinely contribute to achieving the higher 30% climate target for the period 2021-2027; Insists that the Commission base its quantification of the next CAP 's contribution to climate action on scientific evidence, adjusting the estimation where necessary, and ensure reliable, effect- based climate tracking methodology which can take into account the impacts, both positive and negative, of the CAP; Calls for both climate and biodiversity tracking methodologies to be kept up-to- date, revised for accuracy, and based on scientific evidence rather than intention of a given measure;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6 d. Recommends enhancing climate reporting by identifying EU spending with a potentially negative climate impact, and issuing guidelines to ensure consistency; recognises that derogations concerning environmental and biodiversity protection will clearly have an impact on the effectiveness of measures and their contribution towards climate and/or biodiversity spending;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the national CAP strategic plans to ensure that they are effective in allowing Union agriculture to assure efficient and stable farm operation, viability and food security, and to calm market turbulence resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine; highlights the importance of designing sectoral interventions with both food security and nutrition in mind, focusing on fruit and vegetables sectors for instance, and ensuring that financial support for producer organisations is structured towards the setup and maintenance of diverse, territorially- focused groups for regional production; notes, however that to calm market turbulence, the CAP must be complemented by financial regulation measures to restrict speculation on food commodities;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Regrets the increasing tendency for the EAFRD to be utilised as a crisis tool, in particular via lump-sum distributions of payments with little targeting or conditioning of support;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Highlights that the Commission recognises climate change as a risk that will likely influence expenditure on humanitarian assistance under the Heading 6: Neighbourhood and the World, in 2023; regrets that, nevertheless, the margin left in this Heading 6 is zero, despite the need for flexibility to respond to humanitarian crises which may derive from or be impacted by climate change, as well as the impacts of COVID, food price inflation and the Russian invasion;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9 c. Emphasizes that inequalities in access to direct payments and support, both between and within EU countries, are among the issues that need to be addressed in order to halt regional decline, allow older people to retire out of agriculture in good conditions and encourage young people to start farming and to contribute to development of rural areas; Notes that a fair, non- discriminatory distribution of direct payments is needed in order to ensure the balanced development of agriculture, rural areas, and environmental protection across the EU; Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make efforts towards convergence;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 d (new)
Paragraph 9 d (new)
9 d. Highlights that one of the main objectives of the CAP is to provide income stability to farmers and support for the maintenance and creation of jobs at rural areas; finds that in less developed rural areas, contrary to its main objectives, the CAP is primarily supporting big landowners, with less support going to smaller farmers working the land; calls on the Commission and Member states to ensure a strong redistribution within the CAP in order to ensure adequate living conditions for small and family farms;