Thank you.
You know my background; I come from Oesterreich. So you know where I come from.
Throughout the reform process, the European Union has undertaken, over the course of the last 15 years, I think, a reform thrust that has to be recognized, and the European Union, with the reform of the common agricultural policy of 2003, has actually set the pace for the Doha Round. We are not of the opinion, and it is always here a grey area of the European Parliament...it is not a unanimous opinion that we are not moving any further in one direction.
Mr. Chair has discussed this at length, but the point here is that we also have a certain responsibility to provide the 450 million, soon to be 500 million, inhabitants of Europe with base products, feeding them healthy food and giving them a certain basis. It is well known--and this is, I believe, not sufficiently highlighted at the international level--that the European Union is the biggest net importer of agricultural products in the world. The European Union imports more agricultural goods than, for instance, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, etc., together, and this is a point where we see the weight of our responsibility.
We are all interested in reform, but we simply cannot accept that we in Europe would have to give up a production that we also absolutely need, and also with regard to what the European agricultural policy is, where we have made our position clear in the decisions taken in Luxembourg. The European Union confirmed that it was promoting a comprehensive farmers’ agriculture in all regions in Europe, meaning also in the peripheral regions and in the difficult regions--I think of my member state, where more than 60% of the surface area is in disadvantaged mountain zones--where it is absolutely necessary for cultivation, and also because of and with regard to environmental concerns.
So what we have here is a totally different tradition from the one I know and have gotten to know over the past five years in Canadian agriculture.