mr president i hope everybody in the visitors gallery is impressed i have to say it is unusual for us to get so much speaking time but these reports are of particular concern to me in the agriculture and food production area
this report is about how we manage to keep farmers in areas where land and conditions are extremely difficult because we know that farmers are the best managers of the landscape but they do need money to survive in these areas
the concern i would have is that the eight biophysical criteria proposed by the commission might be too restrictive when they are adopted
we need to take account of different soil conditions across the european union
in my own member state ireland there are concerns that if we apply these criteria in the atlantic region there could be problems for farmers who live in that area
i want to ask the commission to take into account these concerns when they prepare their legislative text
the commission has said that farmers manage the landscape better and more cheaply than any other option we have so let us make sure they are allowed to survive in these regions
