Activities of Brian SIMPSON related to 2009/2236(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Explanations of vote
Amendments (40)
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the economic crisis has had a serious negative effect on agriculture, with farm income decreasing by 12.2% on average between 2008 and 2009 and unemployment in rural areas increasing in the last year; whereas as a direct effect of the economic crisis, consumption in Europe decreased on average by 10.55% between 2008 and 2009, and in some Member States this reduction exceeded 20%; whereas other effects of the economic crisis have been a lack of access to credit for farmers and a strain on the public finances of the Member States, weakening their ability to provide co- financing. However co-financing should not be excluded as a possibility to provide funds. But it is important to find a common framework for co-financing,
Amendment 124 #
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 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that CAP market instruments are nowshould be 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;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out that rural development is now an integral part of the CAP architecture with its focus on rural communities, improving the environment, modernising and restructuring agriculture and improving product marketing and competitiveness, therefore the rural development should also be maintained as an important pillar of the CAP in future;
Amendment 164 #
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, and recognises that the share of the budget will have to decrease so that the EU can deliver its future priorities in all sectors;
Amendment 176 #
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 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 180 #
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 that these challenges should be the main drivers for the re-design of the CAP;
Amendment 184 #
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 186 #
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 188 #
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 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that the CAP must provide immediatfarmers should ensure they are presponses topared for the effects of the economic crisies on farming businesses such as the lack of access to credit for farmers, constraints on farm incomes7 , and increasing rural unemployment and notes that an efficient way to do this is to exercise sound financial management, to invest in technology to increase competitiveness, and to make full use of insurance and futures options;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that the CAP must continue to provide solutions to the threat of land abandonment, rural depopulation and the ageing of the rural population in the EU to ensure the long-term sustainability of rural communities in the EU, therefore it is furthermore necessary to continue a target-oriented rural development in the CAP;
Amendment 248 #
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 270 #
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 volalack of demand elastilcity, great exposure to natural disasters, a high level of risk, lack of demand e and 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 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Recognises that a greater focus on Pillar Two can help ensure that the CAP is more targeted and can help deliver the environmental public goods that the public seeks;
Amendment 330 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
Amendment 337 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. In respect of climate security concerns, urges the Commission to ensure that the future design of the CAP supports the delivery of environmental public goods, including an extension of the new challenges agreed during the CAP Health Check; and that the delivery of such goods constitutes the primary rationale for public spending in the agriculture sector as a means of both concentrating expenditure on environmental objectives and of gaining public support for the continuation of the CAP.
Amendment 350 #
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), potentially causing serious damage to 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 376 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Recalls that EU farmers produce food to the highest safety, quality and animal welfare standards; believes that imports from third countries should, respecting WTO rights and obligations, meet the same requirements to ensure fair competition;
Amendment 379 #
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 384 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Insists that the maintenance of appropriate, environmentally sustainable 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 territory;
Amendment 393 #
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 426 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Calls for a fairer distribution of CAP payments and insists that it should be fair to farmers in both new and old Member States8 , for this purpose in the Member States objective criteria should be considered for example purchasing power parity, different levels of costs, different income disparity between agriculture and overall economy;
Amendment 488 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Believes that the new CAP must be simple to administer and reduce red tape and administrative burdens on farmers by moving towards the use of delivery tools such as outcome agreements and simple contracts which may require greater flexibility in determining payment rates for the delivery of environmental public goods;
Amendment 501 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44 a (new)
Paragraph 44 a (new)
44 a. Considers that there needs to be a more proportionate and risk-based approach by the Commission to the application of regulatory controls, the conduct of compliance audits and the imposition of financial corrections;
Amendment 518 #
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;
Amendment 526 #
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; and believes there to be no rationale for public support that fails to achieve these objectives;
Amendment 529 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
Amendment 535 #
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 537 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
Amendment 551 #
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 570 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 – point 1
Paragraph 48 – point 1
(1) Believes that in order to reduce the disparities in the distribution of direct support funds between Member States, the hectare basis alone will not be sufficient and, therefore, calls for additional objective criteria such as a purchasing power coefficient, different levels of costs, different income disparity between agriculture and overall economy, to be used to achieve an overall balanced distribution;
Amendment 581 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. Believes that the CAP priorities should be embedded in a multi-functional food and environmental policy which supports farmers efficiently in a targeted manner, whilst benefiting the wider society;
Amendment 587 #
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 625 #
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 642 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
56. Believes that there should be a basic EU-funded direct area payment to all EU farmers in order to provide basic food security for European consumers, allow farmers to produce high-quality food competitively in relation to well subsidised trade partners (US), ensure that farming activity continues across the EU and provide baseline public goods through cross-compliance requirements for Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions, as well as high quality and animal welfare standards; calls for an absolutethe retention of a requirement of minimum activity to be included in the cross- compliance rules and proportionality to be the key principle applied when enforcing the rules;
Amendment 646 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
56. Believes that there should be a basic EU-funded direct area payment to all EU farmers in order to provide basic food security for European consumers, allow farmers to produce high-quality food competitively in relation to well subsidised trade partners (US), ensure that farming activity continues across the EU and provide baseline public goods through cross-compliance requirements for Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions, as well as high quality and animal welfare standards; calls for an absolute requirement of minimum activity to be included in the cross-compliance rules and proportionality to be the key principle applied when enforcing the rules, points out that direct area payment should be linked to the farmer and not to the land-owner;
Amendment 678 #
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, multiannual contracts rewarding them for reducing their carbon emissions per unit of production and increasing their 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 in 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 possible;
Amendment 689 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
58. Calls for the continuation of specific measures to compensate farmers producing in areas with natural handicaps in order to ensure that appropriate, environmentally sustainable agricultural activity takes place and local food is produced across the EU, reducing the threat of land abandonment and ensuring balanced territorial management across the EU; considers that this support scheme should remain co- financed as it currently is;
Amendment 747 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61 a (new)
Paragraph 61 a (new)
61 a. Notes that the best way for farmers to insure themselves against disaster and risk, is to exercise sound financial management, to invest in technology to increase competitiveness, and to make full use of insurance options;