madam president thank you for your understanding
i would like to apologise on behalf of my colleague mr <unk> who is delayed and who is trying to get here as soon as possible to discuss with you
he has asked me to thank the rapporteur mr alves and the shadow rapporteurs of the european parliament for the excellent work which has been achieved in the adoption of this proposal
the adoption is important because it is the first text adopted in the ordinary legislative procedure concerning agriculture and rural development following the entry into force of the lisbon treaty
a very good cooperation has been established between parliament the council and the commission during these months and that has created the conditions for a fast adoption in first reading of this proposal
with this first experience of the ordinary legislative procedure my colleague commissioner <unk> and his services have learned a lot and this has set an excellent precedent for future work
the adoption of this regulation is very important for the outermost regions as it imposes technical simplifications and it also imposes derogations to the benefit of several sectors the milk sector in the canary islands madeira and réunion the sugar sector for the azores and the wine sector for madeira and the azores
concerning the azores i consider that the current circumstances justify an additional and joint effort from all of us the public regional governments national governments and the european union in order to facilitate a diversification of the agricultural activities in this region
the diversification must indeed be one of the major priorities of the outermost regions to which the treaty has acknowledged a particular status due to their specific handicaps
the diversification must allow an indigenous development that would create stability and well-being in these regions
for this reason following the assurance received from the portuguese authorities who committed themselves to support the sugar beet sector in the azores i can give my agreement for the extension of a derogation which has already been granted in the past for the benefit of the sugar industry in the azores
i will listen to your comments to this text and i will try to the best of my abilities to answer your questions on behalf of my colleague
