mr president i too wish to thank my colleague george lyon for his excellent work on this report
the cap has many challenges facing it and in an enlarged europe it is essential that the eu maintains a strong and properly resourced agricultural policy that will deliver for farmers rural communities and society and will ensure food security
it is also important that there is no renationalisation of the cap through cofinancing
the common agricultural policy must remain a common european policy
over the past fifty years the cap has increased productivity contributed to a fair standard of living for the agricultural community secured the availability of supplies and provided consumers with quality food at reasonable prices
european citizens benefit significantly from agriculture in the form of food security protection of the environment combating climate change sustaining rural communities and supporting farming families
for the cap to continue delivering for european citizens and to meet their demands it needs to be strongly supported and that of course means a strong budget
secondly transparency and proportionality should be central to the future cap
european agricultural policy should support farmers with the main aim of producing high-quality food and not hinder them or burden them with excessive administrative requirements and red tape
lastly european farmers produce food to the highest quality and standards
all imports to the eu must be guaranteed to be produced to the same quality and standard as eu products
we also need to ensure a level playing field fair competition and the future viability of european agriculture
