madam president may i congratulate you on the deft adroit and sensitive way in which you have exercised the prerogatives of the chair
for fifty years european trade and agricultural polices have caused preventable poverty in the third world
we have simultaneously excluded produce from countries where often agricultural export is the main generator of revenue and rubbing in the salt exported our own surpluses dumped ineffectively our surpluses on their markets
then we have tried to salve our consciences by massive aid programmes which have not served to ameliorate the conditions of those countries but on the contrary by breaking the distinction between representation and taxation have served to retard democratic development across much of the world
here is one thing we could do tomorrow that would have an immediate benign and transformative effect in the countries that we are talking about we can abolish the common agricultural policy
the best thing is that it would not cost us a penny
on the contrary our farmers would be better off our countryside would be better looked after our taxes would fall and food prices would fall which would lower inflation and improve the situation of the world economy generally
and in case you thought i had forgotten i have not gone soft and still think we need a referendum on the lisbon treaty
