SPEECH/08/21
Mariann Fischer Boel
European Agriculture Commissioner Opening Speech
Green Week Berlin 17 January 2008
Members of the farming community,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As always, it is a great honour for me to speak to you at the opening of Green Week.
Green Week is a window on the world, for European farming as well. It is an unparalleled opportunity to showcase the quality and competitiveness of European agricultural production.
Of course, the credit for achieving such high standards of quality and competitiveness goes primarily to our farmers and processing industry. But agricultural policy, too, can and must play a role and take its responsibility.
That is precisely what I have been trying to do over the last few years. Last year fruit and vegetables and wine were the last sectors to be brought into line withthe agricultural reforms introduced in 2003, aimed at greater market orientation to increase competitiveness and further improve quality.
2007 was also a year which again saw food in general in the focus of media attention in Europe. I remember article after article about food price increases appearing in the press, particularly over the summer months in Germany.
As I have repeatedly said, the price of agricultural raw materials was far from the only factor behind the rise in food prices. In some cases, such as bread, the price of the agricultural raw materials makes up only about 4% of the value of the product and therefore could not account for the 15% rise in the price of bread.
Be that as it may, the price rises made many people suddenly realise that they cannot take their “daily bread” for granted. This was a sharp reminder that, even in our “modern” society, farmers are indispensable and that food production does not come free.
Farmers also need a fair price for the results of their daily toil. But this has not always been the case in the past. The increase in agricultural raw material prices started from a historically low level. So it cannot be claimed that current profit levels are enormous, but at most that they have reached a “normal level”. I will give you an example: 25 years ago one kilo of butter cost 4.5 euros while today it costs 4.1 euros. Therefore it certainly cannot be claimed that butter prices are excessively high.
This renewed awareness is a good basis for what we call the “health check” of the common agricultural policy scheduled for 2008 – on which I published my key ideas in November.
The idea behind the health check is not to re-invent or re-reform the common agricultural policy. As I have said, farming policy must be dependable and predictable. But this does not mean that policy is not moving forward. The health check is designed to make the existing regimes as simple and efficient as possible and adapt them to new challenges.
Simplification is needed in the direct payments system and cross-compliance. We made solid initial progress last year, especially on cross-compliance. My goal is to continue down this path but without diluting the cross-compliance system itself.
The health check will also take account of the state of our agricultural markets. We still have a range of tools at our disposal for regulating these markets, and we will not simply do away with them, but turn them into a genuine safety net shielding farmers from potential crises on the market.
This also includes preparing for the end of the milk quota regime on 31 March 2015. This will have to be gauged carefully: on the one hand, we must take advantage of the new market opportunities, but on the other we must not impede positive market development, from a price point of view as well. We must also look after those regions that rely solely on milk production but which will no longer be able to keep pace when the quota system is opened up further.
Under the health check, we must also think about how the common agricultural policy is to rise to the new challenges facing us.
For example, climate change is one of the greatest threats of our age. European agriculture has already taken over a major share of the burden of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but we could definitely do more. On the other hand, since farming is highly exposed to climate change, we must prepare ourselves for the unavoidable changes already underway.
Bioenergy and biofuels are another area in which we need to develop our thinking. Opinion on this subject ranges from one extreme to the other. It was not so long ago that biofuels were paraded as our farmers’ potential saviour. Now some quarters say they are bad news for the planet.
Needless to say, the reality is much more complicated than this. Bioenergy and biofuels can help us if we use them correctly – and the common agricultural policy can make an even better contribution to achieving this.
As you can see, Ladies and Gentlemen, I will have my hands full again this year.
I cannot say today what the fruits of my labour will be; but what I can promise you is that I will be working hard – to make our agricultural and rural development policy better for our farmers, better for consumers, better for the environment and better for the public at large.
Thank you for your attention and enjoy Green Week!
