Brussels, 25/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament, on Tuesday 23 September, adopted the own initiative report by Michl Ebner (EPP-ED, Germany) (see EUROPE 9744) by a majority of 487 votes to 73, with 54 abstentions, coming out strongly in favour of a special strategy for mountain farming.
Mountain areas are disadvantaged, through, for example, the difficult conditions for agricultural production, especially in the dairy sector, and transport and communications problems. They also have features and potential advantages that need to be protected, such as high quality traditional food produce, sustainable forest management and attractiveness to tourists, MEPs say. “There are as many different legal frameworks for Europe's mountain areas as there are member states in the European Union itself. In the best cases, a hotchpotch of sectoral policies are applied,” according to the Ebner report. “What is required is a sensible framework that combines regulations and assistance in the best possible way to assist Europe's mountain regions in their efforts to achieve sustainable and forward-looking competitiveness,” the report states.
MEPs call on the Commission to bring forward within the next six months an integrated EU strategy for the sustainable development and use of resources in mountain areas, with national action programmes involving regional authorities and civil society. They also suggest that rural development and structural assistance be combined so that uniform programmes can be put in place. They stressed the importance of demarcating mountain areas as a first step towards targeted measures.
Among its detailed proposals, Parliament calls for: - greater account to be taken of the multifunctionality of hill farming in future CAP reforms, for example by amending rural development rules and compensating hill farmers for the environmental benefits they generate; - compensatory payments for mountain areas to be guaranteed in the long term; - special targeted financial assistance for mountain areas via the “Article 69 mechanism” (now Article 68 under the CAP health check); - a fund for disadvantaged areas, making use of unused second-pillar (rural development) funding; - special financial assistance for the dairy sector (dairy farmers and processors) and special payments to reduce any negative impact of the removal of quotas; - greater support for producer associations, farming cooperatives and other intersectoral partnerships, such as Leader groups; - the introduction of additional per-hectare payments for organic farming and extensive grazing, and continuation of grass premiums; - measures to protect and promote high-quality regional and traditional products or their manufacturing procedures and their certification; - extra support for young farmers; - the establishment of repositories of indigenous genetic material from animal and plant species, particularly farm animals and mountain flora, to preserve biodiversity. (O.L./transl.rt)