Strasbourg, 23/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday 22 May 2008, the European Parliament adopted a joint resolution by six political groups (EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA, UEN and GUE/NGL) by a landslide 485 for, to 52 against, with 7 abstentions on rising food prices in the EU and developing countries.
In this resolution, which closed a debate held on 22 April 2008 on the current food crisis, the European Parliament stresses the importance of the right to food and the need to improve access for all, at all times, to sufficient food in order to live an active, healthy life. It notes that countries have the duty to protect, respect and ensure respect of this fundamental human right. It believes that the fact that 2 billion human beings still live in dire poverty, and that 850 million suffer from famine on a daily basis, bears witness to the systematic violation of the right to food - a right that is incorporated in international human rights agreements. The EP is therefore calling for suitable measures to be taken to apply the right to food under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It urges the Council to ensure coherence among national and international policies on food and the duties arising from the right to food. The EP expresses concern at the impact of speculation on basic staples by hedge funds specialising in commodity prices, which leads to famine and poverty. It urges the Commission to analyse the impact of speculation on food prices and to come up with suitable measures on the basis of its analysis. The EP points out that the cost of raw materials is a relatively minor component of the total cost of many food products, and urges the Commission and member states to analyse the gap between producer prices and the prices charged by major retailers. The European Parliament points out that current European Union cereal stocks would only last up to 30 days and asks whether such food stocks are sufficient, particularly if food crises were to arise. It asks the Commission to draw up strategies to establish food stocks to avert crises in the future. The EP welcomes the decision by EU farm ministers to adopt the European Commission's suggestion of scrapping set-aside obligations for 2008, and takes note of the Commission's forecasts that this would free up some 2.9 million hectares of land to grow cereals and increase the harvest this year by nearly 10 million tonnes (amendment tabled by Mairead McGuinness).
The European Parliament also believes that food use is more important that fuel and the production of biofuel should be governed by strict sustainability criteria. It points out that such criteria should be respected for the achievement of biofuel targets. The EP acknowledges that the subsidising by the EU of crops for the production of biofuel cannot be justified, but insists that only between 2 and 3% of EU farm land is currently given over to such production and media accusations that biofuel is the origin of the current food crisis are an exaggeration, at least as far as the European Union is concerned. The EP recognises, however, that the policy pursued by some countries, like the United States, of using more land to grow corn for the production of bioethanol, has had an impact on the price and availability of corn and other cereals on the global food market. In this connection, the EP urges the Commission and member states to do more to promote the use and production of second generation bio-energy, which converts manure and farm waste (rather than basic farm products) into fuel (amendments by Mairead McGuinness).
The European Parliament is calling for a substantial and urgent increase in investment in farming, fish-farming, rural development and agri-industry in developing countries, focussed on peasants and small farms using basic agri-ecological farming systems. It points out that 75% of the world's poor live in rural zones but only 4% of public development aid goes to farming. It urges the Commission and member states to take better account of farming in their development policies, to promote changes to be made in the programming of the 10th European Development Fund in close collaboration with developing countries, and to re-examine the country-specific strategic documents in order to give farming a higher priority. Finally, the EP stresses the role of NGOs and local authorities in finding innovative solutions to farming in partnership with the population of developing countries, and invites the Commission and member states to back and promote their projects. (O.J.)