14 Amendments of Paolo DE CASTRO related to 2011/2051(INI)
Amendment 502 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers thait decoupling has essentially proved its worth, given the increased effect on income and greater autonomy in decision-making on the part of farmers and the associated simplification of the CAP, and calls for this also, in general, to apply to suckler cow and sheep premiums; recognises, however, that in certain sectors and regions such as mountain regions, where there are no alternatives to relatively labour-intensive livestock farming, there may be considerable economic and environmental drawbacks which cannot be reconciled with the aims of the Treaty; acknowledges,sirable, within the limits set by the Union’s WTO commitments, not to decouple all aid in support of certain types of production (suckler cow and sheep premiums, etc.) so as to enable Member States to cope with problems specific to their territory and enable the Union to preserve its rich heritage in therefore, that production- based premiums might be defensible within a narrowly defined framework for a limited period even after 2013ms of the diversity of types of production;
Amendment 558 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. ObservesIs conscious of the fact that, for historical reasons, farms in the European Union have a very diverse structure as regards size, employment arrangements and legal form; is aware that direct payments are moving away from a historical basis to area-based payments and that the provision of public goods is independent of farm size; rejects, therefore, measures which discriminate against particular types of farm, labour productivity and legal form; supports the principles of imposing ceilings and/or degressivity of direct aid in the light of the size of holding, except in the case of agricultural cooperatives or where employment is an important factor; stresses that in this way priority should be assigned to businesses which employ labour;
Amendment 599 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Considers that direct payments should be madereserved only tofor active farmers; realises that, under the system of decoupled direct payments, each farmer who uses farmland for production or who tends it in order to maintain GAEC should receive direct payments; calls on the Commission therefore to devise a definition of ‘active farmer’ which the Member States can administer without additional administrative effort, while it should be ensured that traditional farming activities (full-time and various degrees of paonsiders that ‘active farmer’ means any natural or legal person whose principal activity is the exercise of an agricultural activity and/or is linked to an agricultural activity (agro- tourism, forestry, etc.); considers it necessary to specify that the definition of an active farmer should exclude cases in which the administrative costs would previously have been higher than the amount of support- time) are classified as active farming; hat certain beneficiaries would have been able to receive;
Amendment 613 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Considers it important that the CAP, like all other EU policies, be involved in the 2020 Strategy, and that it seems logical under such circumstances that the redistribution of direct aid take account of factors such as employment, the environment and combating climate change;
Amendment 659 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Considers that resource protection should be directly linked to the granting of targeted direct payments in order to attain these environmental objectives to the maximum without the need to introduce new, bureauthat provide incentives to maximise environmental benefits and sustainability, without however creatic environmental conditions into the first pillar; considers that a flat- rate income payment, as envisaged in a top-up model in the first pillar, must cover costs and income lossng insurmountable practical hurdles for farmers or additional red tape for administrative authorities;
Amendment 692 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Rejects the option of a uniform flat- rate direct payment for the whole of the EU and recommends inclusion of the proposals already put forward in the European Parliament's own-initiative report on the future of the CAP after 2013, which provided much of the inspiration for the Commission Communication; considers that this system of direct payments should be applicable to all hectares of farmland and could combine the following three objectives; - the provision of basic aid to ensure not just the socio-economic viability of the competitive and multifunctional model for European agriculture, but also high- quality and wide-scale food safety, the supply of basic public goods, and agricultural activity that provides employment in rural areas, with safety in the workplace criteria obviously governing this employment; - the payment of supplementary aid for enforcing simple, best-practice obligations to protect the environment (protection of soil, water, biodiversity, etc.) and combat global warming adapted to the climate and natural features of each region; some of these already exist through the GAEC, but are not harmonised among Member States, such as mandatory plant cover, environmental set-aside, compulsory rotation, crop diversity (including protein crops), rates of soil organic matter, tillage restrictions, or the presence of hedges, permanent pasture, grazing land and extensively managed crops of great environmental interest; - the provision of specific aid to compensate for natural handicaps in order to maintain agricultural activity in mountain regions, environmentally- sensitive regions, regions within the Natura 2000 network and the outermost regions; this aid would supplement and complement second-pillar aid granted to less-favoured areas;
Amendment 821 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considers that the general market orientatimarket policy is one of the CAP should be maintained and that the general structure of market management instruments should likewise be retained; instruments which, through price management, plays an important role in determining farm incomes; acknowledges, however, that by virtue of the specific nature of agricultural supply and demand, agricultural markets, which are inherently very unstable, can cause serious problems for producers, processors and consumers which may go so far as to call into question the ability of agriculture to achieve its primary, strategic objective, food security; considers, therefore, that it is important to be able to take action to counter excessive price volatility in the context of the CAP and on world markets;
Amendment 855 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 b (new)
Paragraph 33 b (new)
33b. Takes the view that these instruments should include specific supply- management instruments which, if employed fairly and on a non- discriminatory basis, can provide effective market management and prevent crises relating to overproduction, at zero cost to the Union budget;
Amendment 970 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Calls on the Commission to examine the extent to which the role of producer groups or sectoral associations can be extended to all production sectors and incorporated into the risk preventionin managing markets and promoting quality can be extended to all production sectors; calls for measures of this kind to take particular account of products covered by quality-label schemes;
Amendment 1121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)
Paragraph 49 a (new)
49a. Emphasises that rural development policy must enable all the potentials of rural areas to be harnessed, by means of quality agricultural production focusing on direct sales, product promotion, supplying of local markets, diversification of biomass outlets (energy, green chemistry, bio-based materials, etc.), and able to create very place-specific jobs and multiple-service supply (ecotourism, educational farms, agri-tourism, etc.); considers also that this rural policy must serve to increase competitiveness, particularly in the convergence regions, by means of investment in the fields of the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products; believes, lastly, that this rural development policy must contribute to the management of natural resources (watercourses, soil, etc.) and help in the management and restoration of ecosystems, with this simultaneously providing a response to climate change;
Amendment 1132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 b (new)
Paragraph 49 b (new)
49b. Insists that the measures under axis 1 of the rural development policy must better address the issues connected with the establishment of young farmers following the retirement of older farmers, with this concerning measures in connection with the establishing and modernisation of agricultural holdings; this approach should also consist of facilitating access to the farming profession for young people who are not from a farming background, and include the concept of gradual establishment, necessitating a review of aid eligibility conditions; believes, lastly, that implementation of this establishment support system should be mandatory in all the Member States;
Amendment 1133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 c (new)
Paragraph 49 c (new)
49c. Proposes that agri-environmental measures should include arrangements for a 5 to 7 year ‘conversion’ agreement enabling farmers who themselves decide to move towards more sustainable production models and to innovate, to receive financial support to cover their taking on the financial risk resulting from the agronomic difficulties that could often arise in the years immediately following their change of farming practices; this aim of this incentive mechanism would be to help farmers better comply with the conditions for the granting of level two under the first pillar direct payments system;
Amendment 1137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 d (new)
Paragraph 49 d (new)
49d. Suggests that support for consultancy, orchestration and training be incorporated into Axis 1 of the rural development policy to enable the dissemination of knowledge on innovative changes in farming practices towards more sustainable production systems, and to help innovative farmers pass on their experience;
Amendment 1143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Advocates in this connection that the compensatory allowance for disadvantaged areas be retained in the second pillar; considers that it should be ascertained what cofinancing ralls on the Commission to establish objective criteria for the definition of intermediate apprears to be appropriate; calls on the Commission to reta(currently under review) without those criteria leading the existing criteria for demarcation of disadvantagedo a new demarcation that could see the abrupt exclusion of currently eligible areas;