Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Europe is moving ahead. After all the talks of the last few months, I and the whole Federal Government are very confident about the future. As you know, Germany currently holds the Presidency of the European Union. Two weeks ago, I welcomed the Ministers of Agriculture to an informal meeting under the motto of “wine and culture”. In Mainz and in the Rheingau, we exchanged our views about the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and rural development in a relaxed atmosphere. There was a very good atmosphere, a lot of interesting talks came up and possible compromises were identified. I spoke with all the other Ministers of Agriculture and the response they gave me was positive in all cases.
This was the third time I attended an informal meeting of ministers of agriculture and I believe that these meetings, which are not governed by a strict protocol, are as valuable for the further development of Europe as the official meetings.
It is important that the policy makers of the European Union use, again and again, all given opportunities to get to know each other personally. Then it will become easier to approach one another, express interests and exchange thoughts. This is why I am also grateful for the invitation to be here today.
The time of the German Presidency of the Council is drawing to a close soon. My ministry has used this time to advance important long-term goals in all thematic areas and to also bring some of the projects to a successful conclusion.
With the conference on “Challenges and Opportunities in a Digitalised World”, for example, we have placed the new technologies in the centre of German and European consumer policy. With our charter on “Consumer sovereignty in the digital world”, we have indicated important cornerstones of modern consumer policy. This coincided and was in line with the consumer policy agenda, which Ms Meglena Kuneva, Commissioner for Consumer Protection, presented at the same time.
Both the charter and the agenda provide important impulses for a common European consumer policy. The goal of working towards a healthy lifestyle is also very high on the list of priorities of the German Council Presidency, since diet-related illnesses are increasing in Europe. In the fields of nutrition and physical activity, we drew up a memorandum together with the participants of the international conference in Badenweiler in February. In this memorandum, we laid down guiding principles and goals on how to make a healthy diet and increased physical activity a value, improving the quality of life of the people in Europe.
In particular, prevention, information and improvement of the food on offer in schools and workplaces are of crucial importance in this context.
In the field of animal welfare, we were able to reach agreement on minimum standards for the keeping of chickens for meat production. Furthermore, in the conclusions on the animal welfare conference held in March 2007, we asked the Commission to initiate measures for the labelling of animal welfare-friendly production methods.
I could mention many more things, but I would prefer to come to agricultural policy now. With the Agriculture Council taking place next week, we are very close to political agreement on several important projects. We have already brought various projects to a successful conclusion.
One of the declared priorities of this Council Presidency is the reduction of bureaucracy. In agricultural policy, this applies to the Cross-Compliance Regime in particular.
In January, I promised you to advocate the simplification of the Cross-Compliance system during our Presidency of the Council. I have kept my word, and so I am glad to be able to talk with you today about the progress we have made concerning the appropriate and practical implementation of the Cross-Compliance Regime.
All major proposals of the German Council Presidency were incorporated into the Commission report on the implementation of Cross Compliance. This applies, for instance, to the harmonisation of checking rates at 1 per cent of the farms, a de minimis arrangement for minor infringements, advanced notice of on-the-spot checks in certain cases or consideration of farm consultancy and quality assurance systems within the risk analysis of Cross Compliance.
In this context, I would especially like to thank the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer-Boel, who made personal efforts enabling us to find pragmatic solutions as quickly as possible. I am extremely confident that we will adopt the corresponding conclusions on the Commission report at the Agriculture Council next week.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you too attach utmost importance to the unbureaucratic organisation of Cross Compliance. Therefore, I highly welcome the decision of the European Parliament to draw up an own-initiative report on measures to further simplify Cross Compliance, as I am also always an advocate of the principle of: “No more bureaucracy than absolutely necessary."
For this reason, the creation of a Single Common Market Organisation is also one of the projects which are of special importance to me during the German Presidency.
We are planning to summarise more than 40 regulations in the agricultural sector in one single regulation.
The success in the reduction of bureaucracy will already become visible from the volume of this document. The text of this regulation will only be a quarter of the original volume.
I am optimistic that we will be able to make this clear step towards reduction of bureaucracy and more transparency during the Council negotiations next week.
I think we will then also have a good basis for tackling further substantive simplifications in the future. I am equally confident as regards the reform of the Common Market Organisation for fruit and vegetables. Here, we are also very close to political agreement.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I do not intend to name now every dossier of this Presidency which we have successfully adopted. Someone has written this down for me, it is about 25 projects which have been brought to a successful conclusion.
What is more important to me at this point is to extend my warmest thanks to you for the good cooperation during the last few months. The talks between my staff members and the respective rapporteurs have also been characterised by a markedly good working atmosphere.
I especially welcome that the European Parliament recently submitted its final opinions on maize intervention and the amendment to the Regulation on Organic Farming. Now we are able to bring these projects to a successful conclusion under the German Council Presidency.
And I would like to thank you all especially for your cooperative attitude during the negotiations on optional modulation, which were - admittedly - not very easy.
It was a great relief for me that the urgently needed funds for rural development were released in time. This way, we were able to jointly avert the imminent evil of having to adjust the ongoing planning for the rural development programmes.
So, now we are spared delays in the payment of support funds and hence long-term negative impacts for rural areas.
Without the support of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, this success would not have been possible.
The Budget Committee finally followed your vote. With this, you clearly showed how important the future of rural areas is also to you.
The goal of making full use of the potential of rural areas and maintaining rural areas as cultivated landscapes has been the leitmotif throughout the central topics of my ministry during the German Council Presidency: The principal aim has been enhancing the overall competitiveness of European agriculture and the regions.
The motto for the work programme of my department during the Council Presidency has therefore been: “Protecting the basis of life in the regions of Europe – for diversity, quality and innovation”.
For me personally, it is important in this context to promote all facets of rural areas.Because: Farming, forestry and fisheries will only have good long-term prospects if rural regions remain vital.
We must therefore make rural areas also attractive for young people. This includes, first of all, the creation of jobs and additional income opportunities alongside traditional agriculture. At the Agriculture Council in March, we were able to adopt conclusions on the improvement of employment opportunities in rural areas.
The cultivation and use of renewable resources, for example, provides important sources of income for rural areas. With the Presidency Conference in Nuremberg, the German Council Presidency offered international experts a platform to discuss the topic of renewable resources and their impulses for rural areas. We wrote down the outcomes of this conference in a declaration which can now serve as a guideline for further necessary action at European level.
Our aim is that, by the year 2020, at least 20 per cent of the European Union’s primary energy consumption will be covered by renewable energies. To achieve this, we want to, among other things, open up the potential of renewable resources which is still unused and to advance innovative technologies.
Renewable resources contribute to solving the energy problems of our time. At the same time, they are a great opportunity for employment and innovation in rural areas.
For the prospects of rural areas it is, however, also important to extend the provision of basic public services, to promote education and culture and support voluntary commitment in particular.
I exchanged my views on this topic once again with the other Ministers of Agriculture at the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture in Mainz. In addition, we all agreed that rural areas must have blanket access to modern information technologies as well.
“Rural areas being equal to backward areas” is an idea we should abandon once and for all. I am pleased that my successors for the Presidency of the Council, Portugal and Slovenia, also want to pursue this course of revaluating rural areas.
Being able to form a trio presidency with Portugal and Slovenia gives us the advantage of being able to give more impetus and continuity to the changes in agricultural policy which we have initiated.
On the fringes of the Informal Meeting in Mainz, I had the opportunity to hold trilateral talks with my Portuguese and Slovenian colleagues. So, this was the first time that a meeting of a “team presidency” took place before a Council meeting.
We want to continue working closely together in the next 12 months as well, as we did it in the run-up to and during the German Council Presidency.
Together, we want to achieve continuity for long-term topics, such as the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy, the “Health Check” and Cross Compliance.
And that is why I, in fact, do not want to call it the end of the German Council Presidency but rather “the passing of the baton to our successor”. We are in the final spurt of our run. It is now important to support the next runners carrying the baton: Portugal and Slovenia.
Our common aim remains to significantly advance Europe and the European Union in its agricultural, food and consumer policies.
As you know, my colleague Jaime Silva from Portugal will soon speak in front of this Committee as the future President of the Council, and with Iztok Jarc from Slovenia, the first one of the new Member States will hold the Presidency of the European Union.
I would be pleased if you, ladies and gentlemen, would work together with our successors for the Council Presidency as well as you did with us, following the motto of our Presidency: “Europe - succeeding together”.
