mr president could i begin by offering my commiserations to my german colleagues and congratulations to my spanish colleagues after last night's excellent match
i would like to set out what i believe are the two fundamental questions that we need to answer in terms of cap reform
what is the cap for
why is it still relevant in the twenty-first century
in these times of economic crisis debt-ridden public finances and austerity budgets it is vital that the cap provides answers to these questions if we want taxpayers to continue providing much needed support for our farmers in the future
one of the fundamental challenges society faces is how to feed a growing world demand for food estimated by the fao to double by the year twenty fifty
the big challenge of course is how to meet that doubling of food demand against a background of less land less water and less energy due to the impact of climate change
how do we square that circle and avoid the perfect storm predicted by uk's chief scientific advisor sir john beddington when he said in two thousand and nine we head into a perfect storm in twenty thirty because all of these things are operating on the same time frame
if we do not address this we can expect major destabilisation an increase in rioting and potentially significant problems with international migration as people move out to avoid food and water shortages
that is the scale of the challenge
i believe that tackling climate change and making our agriculture production more sustainable are objectives which must be at the heart of the reform going forward
they are vital steps if we are to continue to have guaranteed food security for our european citizens and still make a contribution to meeting growing global demand for food
reform should also encourage green growth through the development of small-scale renewables such as wind biomass biogas and second generation biofuels
that would help to create jobs and provide real opportunities for farmers to diversify and earn extra income
we also must respond to the call for greater environmental protection by ensuring farmers have an opportunity to participate in agri-environmental schemes with a goal of a majority of farmland being covered by such a scheme over the period of the next reform
by using the carrot rather than the stick that is a very important principle the carrot encouragement rather than the big stick of rules and regulations you will get buy-in from farmers to this agenda
fairness also has to be a key driver of the reform fair to old member states as well as new member states in the distribution of direct payment envelopes across the eu a fair distribution among farmers and member states by bringing historic payments to an end by twenty twenty
it cannot be right and justified to continue making payments based on how you farmed some ten years ago
we also need a fair deal for farmers in the food chain to be able to take on the power of the multiples
so fairness and the principle of fairness must be at the heart of the reform going forward
we also have to address the issue of market volatility but on this i would urge some caution
yes we still need intervention and private aids to storage
yes we need to examine other tools such as risk insurance and future markets
yes we need our special reserve budget line to fund action in terms of crisis
but we should reject any thought of a return to the wide-scale management of the markets we saw in the past
that has already been tried and it has failed
i would suggest that we do not wish to go down that road again
in conclusion i am confident that this house will back our reforms modernising the cap setting it on a new course to deliver on the new challenges of the twenty-first century
by backing this report the parliament will shape the debate set the agenda and i would invite the commissioner to use our ideas to inform his proposals on cap reform when he publishes them in november this year
