Debate contributions by Herbert DORFMANN

Mr President! Commissioner! Colleagues! The European Union can, of course, evolve if it takes on new tasks, and then it must also finance these new tasks. But I remain convinced: The Union will not develop further if successful joint tasks are neglected or even thrown overboard in return. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening with this proposal in areas such as agriculture, regional policy and fisheries policy. And I think it is difficult to underline the strategic role of agriculture over and over again – this is what has happened here today – and to leave it financially in the rain at the same time. I remain convinced that Single Fund It is a wrong approach in approach. He's not going to take us any further, he's not going to simplify things, he's going to make them harder. But last week's concessions are heading in the right direction. The architecture of the proposals is now the right one. And I believe, Commissioner, that the next consistent step would be to implement these concessions legislatively before Parliament starts work. In any case, my group will work very hard, as far as agriculture is concerned, to improve these proposals and make them a good common agricultural policy.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! The regulation on the simplification of the CAP takes up an excessive bureaucracy which we have experienced in recent years and which, unfortunately, we have created ourselves in this House. Simplification does not mean deregulation. Simplification means reducing bureaucracy where it only becomes a burden, only generates more costs and no added value. As a rule, farms do not have an office staff that ensures that the papers are in order all day long. This is especially true for small businesses. That is why it is good if we start there now, and this also applies to organic farms. I think it is right that we simplify there, even for those farms that are on their way to organic farming. Why should conditionality be checked there if it is already checked by the certification body? I also believe that the flexibility for more grassland makes sense, not because we want less grassland, but because with the previous regulation hardly anyone is dedicating a field to permanent grassland, knowing that the way back is no longer possible. Farmers are usually well-educated people. We don't have to tell them what to do every step of the way. We also support the changes in the Common Market Organisation. Any scheme that ultimately supports the position of the farmer in the value chain is, in my opinion, worth supporting. If farmers join together in cooperatives, then they should have additional opportunities. That's why I think: Both regulations will make the lives of our farmers a bit easier. That's why they both have my support.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! In a few days, we will have on the table a proposal for the CAP and its financing by 2035, and I have the impression that the signs are not the best, to say the least. It is obvious that the policies that have hitherto been at the heart of the European Union – agriculture, but also cohesion, cross-border cooperation and others – are planned to become a kind of stew, where you can no longer see what ingredients are really in the pot. I have the impression that it's like cooking a stew like this: You want to have the pot full, but don't show that you have too little meat. Only two numbers: If we leave the financial endowment of the common agricultural policy unchanged in absolute terms in relation to today, then in 2035 this policy will have about a third less money, measured in purchasing power, than in 2020. If we cut by 15%, then half of the money we had in purchasing power in 2020 remains. We are systematically starving politics. However, safe access to food will be a key challenge for tomorrow's society. If we in the European Union are no longer willing to invest in this sector, to attract young people who are willing to go to agriculture, then we will gradually lose our food sovereignty. Of course, Commissioner, that does not mean that you do not have to make changes in politics, and my group is prepared to discuss this and also to look at how to spend money more efficiently. But we do not need a stew of financing, we need a secure and sufficient budget for agriculture. Above all, we need independent legislation for the common agricultural policy and not general guidelines for national agricultural policies. We do not need a renationalisation of this policy, which in the end would also weaken the regions' competence. I really hope that next Wednesday we will see a self-confident Commission, a Commission that defends its competences and also defends its policies and fights for them to be financed. Commissioner, rest assured, we will fight with you. But I will not be prepared to agree to a common agricultural policy that puts European agriculture at risk.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! The European Union, and therefore this Parliament, has grown over decades through one principle: The Member States have given us competences that we exercise, where we create laws, rules, and which we then finance. This applies to agriculture, cohesion, cross-border cooperation, research and much more. If I can now trust the signs, then the Commission plans to pool these key competences, to partially return them to the Member States and at the same time to cut funding. At the same time, however, we should finance other things in the future where this Parliament has no competence. But if we starve the powers, we starve the European Union, and above all we starve this Parliament. Do we want that? A word about agriculture. Safe access to food will be a key challenge for tomorrow's society. If we are no longer willing to invest in this sector, to bring young people into agriculture, then we risk our food sovereignty. We need an independent budget for the European Union and, above all, we need independent legislation for the European Union. I expect the Commission to fight for this next week.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. I am convinced that we are at a historical crossroads. The balances in the world are rebalancing, and the next few years will show whether we, the European Union, emerge from this development as a strong partner or as a meaningless partner. But if we want to remain significant, we need not only lip service, but also concrete facts about the financing of the European Union. This also applies in particular to agricultural policy. This is a sector that we have been financing together for years. In these years and decades, we may have forgotten a bit about the importance of security of supply, sustainability, and also profitability of the sector. But the crises of recent years have made us aware: Without strong agriculture, without young people in agriculture, without people who also earn money in agriculture, we in Europe risk security of supply and security overall. We should bear this in mind in the next MFF. We need to adjust to inflation. We don't need any Single FundWe need a strong agricultural budget in the European Union.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Farmers are the ones who feed us every day. This is actually logical – we may have forgotten something in the decades of abundance. The aim of a sensible agricultural policy must be that farmers, together with our food industry, try every day to produce sustainably high-quality food for us, for these 450 million Europeans. I am grateful to you, Commissioner, for putting this issue at the heart of your vision once again. In this House, we manage around EUR 60 billion a year, which goes to European agriculture. That's a lot of money, and I think if we use these 60 billion euros, which go to 9 million farms in Europe, wisely, then they can really be a driver for future-oriented, productive, sustainable agriculture. They can be: by helping businesses – you said it, Commissioner – in those areas where it is more difficult to produce. If we do not take these into account, they will be phased out of production and we will lose these areas, as has unfortunately happened in many regions of Europe, especially in the mountains. By helping farmers to realize their ideas. We have many innovative people in agriculture, but sometimes our agricultural policy does not necessarily help to really get to the bottom of these innovative ideas. By helping farmers who are committed to sustainability. Here, too, we have many people in agriculture who have very good ideas that implement sustainability in their business. I believe we should help them, and of course those young people who want to start farming, and also those farms that are fighting climate change by actively or passively trying to deal with climate change. I believe, Commissioner, that this is now a vision; We must now implement this vision. My group is ready to do so. We need money for this, and I believe that the biggest challenge that awaits us in the next few years is that we all stand together here to get a decent, reasonable agricultural budget for the next few years.

Madam President, Colleagues! With the Mercosur agreement, the EU is planning for the first time a trade agreement with a partner whose primary interest is, of course, the export of agricultural goods. Not that we wouldn't shop there today: We buy food from Brazil by EUR 17 billion a year and from Argentina by EUR 5 billion, which means that they are already important trading partners. But, and this was also said today, the agreement could, of course, affect some sectors of agriculture: Beef, poultry meat, sugar, bioethanol, rice or citrus fruits, to name a few. Of course, there are also opportunities for other areas of agriculture, there is no doubt about that. And of course there is a geopolitical interest in this agreement, which I strongly support. The European Union is rapidly losing partners and friends around the world – and even faster in recent hours – and our lack of decision-making – and 25 years of agreements and speeches on Mercosur are perhaps a symbol – shows that we cannot allow ourselves to slam the door in the face of partners, potential partners. But we need a strategy for agriculture, and the strategy cannot simply be the promise of €1 billion. We need a concept, guarantees for farmers, measures to open up new markets in the world. And then we need funding for this concept. But first we need a concept, and then we need the necessary money. I would ask you, Commissioner, to move quickly to put forward such an approach and to remove the concerns that exist in agriculture.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. Of course, NGOs are important in a democracy, and of course NGOs can also be supported with public money and should be supported with public money. Of course, they also have to be transparent, otherwise they lose their own credibility. Let me give you an example: For several years there have been NGOs that have declared the protection of the wolf to be the mantra of any environmental policy in Europe. They do so without any respect for those who believe that in some parts of Europe we can do quite well without wolves. And they do so with the active support of the LIFE programme. If you want a special treat, read a letter – which is viral on the Internet – from the President of the Alpi Cozie Nature Park in Italy, Mauro Deidier, who already presented these machinations in 2021: always the same conferences, always the same experts, no access for those who hold a different opinion, always the same research institutes that get money and finance themselves from it. Just read this and think about whether we are really promoting democracy here. And for those who have said here today that we would harm Europe and democracy with our opinion here, read also the article today in the Telegraph by Frans Timmermans. I think it hurts the European Union more than we do.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I and my group support animal welfare in the European Union. I believe that animal husbandry is associated with an ethical responsibility for animals, and that is what society and consumers can demand. But I also believe that farmers take care of their animals for the most part. Anyone who does not do so should also be punished according to the rules of the law. However, we also support the fact that animals can be kept in the European Union. I sometimes have the impression that this fact is being called into question. If you look at the European Citizens' Initiatives that we have had so far – 118 in number – then ten revolve around the issue of animal welfare, more or less brought in by the same organisers, and probably more or less signed by the same citizens. For the most part, this amounts to making animal husbandry impossible in the European Union. Of course, one can already demand that there should be no more tethering of cows, but I myself come from the middle of the mountains and I have to tell you: If you do that, then many small dairy farms, which still have a few cows that take care of these cows day and night, will call them by their own names, then they will get out. They cannot and do not want to make the transition financially. We want and can – and I am also in favour of demanding that poultry should no longer be kept in cages. But then we also have to make sure that no imported eggs and no imported poultry meat comes from this cage farming. Otherwise, as with the last changeover, we are doing it by building up the old cages in Europe, the same European companies, partly over the border away, reinstalling these cages, producing expensive eggs there today and chicken meat and then importing it duty-free. And we are currently in the process of importing 180,000 tonnes of chicken meat duty-free from the Mercosur countries, so there is also a need for a level playing field. I think that when we are dealing with this issue, it is simply important that we, Commissioner, speak to farmers and that we continue to make animal husbandry possible in the European Union.

Mr President! Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Work in agriculture is exhausting, and work in agriculture and especially in forestry can unfortunately also be dangerous. I would like to focus here above all on this issue of occupational safety, which you, Commissioner, have raised. Work in agriculture takes place in the wild, takes place in any weather, takes place very often on slippery surfaces. This is especially a problem if the areas are on slopes or often even on the mountain. Occupational accidents are therefore unfortunately particularly frequent and often particularly tragic in agriculture. Very often the farms are family farms, and if the farmer becomes temporarily or permanently incapacitated or even dies as a result of an accident, then the future of the entire farm is often at stake. I think you don't do justice to the issue by simply pointing your finger at agriculture and pretending that workers are being systematically exploited there. I believe, and I agree with you, Commissioner, that a package of measures must be put in place to improve working conditions for managers and also for employees. First of all, these are investments in training and further education on the subject of safety at work, especially for employees and, in particular, for short-term employees and so often seasonal employees in agriculture. Then, and this should not be underestimated, unfortunately, outdated machines are often used in agriculture that no longer comply with safety regulations. I think we must do everything we can to ensure that companies have the necessary financial resources, that they can adapt their technical equipment, that they can renew tractors and machines and replace them with safer equipment. Above all, it must be guaranteed that everyone and everyone who works in agriculture also has sufficient insurance cover. Therefore, it is necessary to take decisive action against undeclared work and exploitation. Our CAP can certainly contribute to this. But above all the Member States must do so, and I am reluctant to let the Member States send the Black Peter to Brussels. I believe that the fight against undeclared work is a task that the Member States must tackle. Because agriculture is only fit for the future if it can offer safe and interesting jobs.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! This is what scientists have warned us about, Mrs Arndt. What you have just said is not exactly what scientists have been saying for years, namely that extreme weather conditions will increase, that drought will increase and that, unfortunately, floods will also increase. We see this these days and unfortunately we have also seen this summer. Above all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my solidarity with all those affected. Unfortunately, what we see is no longer extraordinary, it is unfortunately the new normal state. This has an impact on agriculture and production. The harvest of soybean flowers and maize, for example, will be reduced by around 5% across Europe this year. This is a problem, a big problem, of course, for the farmers who are affected by it, but it is also a problem for the entire population. This is a problem for food security in Europe, and this will have an impact on food prices and will ultimately affect all people. That is why I believe that we must prevent this, fight climate change, of course, but also adapt, and above all agriculture must also adapt. Today, Commissioner, you have outlined a number of measures that we can tackle. There is, of course, crisis management, but we must also have more stable risk provisioning in the CAP, and we must invest above all in irrigation. 95% of fresh water still ends up directly in the sea, and I believe there is still much that can be done to improve the water supply to agriculture. So, we need to tackle these measures urgently, and then we will be able to continue farming successfully here for the next few years.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I and the European People's Party, my group, welcome the initiative of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for strategic dialogue. I have now read with interest the result of the work of the 29 representatives of organizations, associations and associations, and I would also like to thank you for the work that has been done here. The Commissioner has succeeded in adopting a single document, a final document, by unanimity. I believe this is important because I believe that strategic dialogue can provide important input for the future debates that we will have here. But it must also be clear: It is then up to this Parliament to decide on the common agricultural policy, on the elements of the common agricultural policy. Here, the ideas that come from the strategic dialogue can certainly be interesting. I believe that the path proposed by the strategic dialogue is the right one. We need to reinvigorate the role of agriculture, the role of farmers, especially in the value chain. We are constantly demanding that agriculture invests: more animal welfare, precision farming, more sustainability and much more. But there's gotta be money for that. This requires money that costs, and the money can only come from the value chain. It is too easy – as has unfortunately happened in recent years – to get this money through economies of scale, i.e. simply making farms bigger and bigger. The perpetual growth or turnout ultimately damages the rural area. And I think we need to think about it – and here I find interesting other points in the strategic dialogue: What kind of agriculture do we want? Which farmers and which farms do we want tomorrow? And then we have to use our money – our common agricultural policy – to support precisely those farms. We can then really discriminate positively and help to ensure that the farms we need in rural areas survive – where real agriculture takes place and where food is produced. So, we are now waiting for the Commission's proposals. I hope that they will come quickly and that we will deal with them very constructively in this Parliament, at least as far as my group is concerned.