mr president we have a dysfunctional market price chain
the imbalance of power between the players in the chain has resulted too often in the supply side not receiving a fair return for their produce and so while i agree with and support the broad objectives of this report i cannot agree with the proposals and solutions which the rapporteur suggests
more regulation mandatory powers and market intervention are not the solution nor do they reflect the interests of all the stakeholders and in particular of five hundred million consumers
i do welcome and believe there is a need for greater transparency in the industry and i think to that end codes of practice and the appointment of ombudsmen would be helpful but i urge the commissioner here to approach this problem with a light touch
by all means support voluntary initiatives by all means encourage the supply side to organise themselves into cooperatives in order to get better presence in the market place and by all means help them to promote and market their products and overall encourage all players in the marketplace to form mature contractual arrangements
all those i welcome and i suggest they are realistic proposals which the commission can put forward
at the end of the day however my message is that you interfere with the workings of the free market at your peril
