Speeches

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, access to safe and quality drinking water is a fundamental right of every human being. But the reality is that access to water is not guaranteed in Europe due to drought. With climate change, 45% of the territory is affected and today there are water cuts in southern Europe. So we have to do that, access the water, and then also control the contaminants and microplastics that it contains. It is clear that this strategy of resilient water management is good news. But we must introduce a directive on drought in this strategy, something we ask from the People's Party. Throughout history, water has been dammed in periods of drought, but what is clear is that today, due to political sectarianism, we do not want to dam. This water source has been disdained, with how important the regulation reservoirs are, which in Cheste would have dammed water and also avoided the damage. In this case, I am also talking about improving networks to prevent water loss and the circular economy: reclaimed, desalinated water, very important for injecting into aquifers, which is the piggy bank for future generations. To this end, there are instruments: the EIB is essential, but also the Next Generation EU, which in countries like mine is at 24% of its implementation and only 51%, in this case, is committed.

Mr President, Commissioner, thank you, first of all, for supporting our country in this devastating DANA in Valencia, Andalusia and other regions of Spain; But, above all, in reconstruction, because I believe that this is important for competitiveness. At this time we already have funds in place: with Measure 23 through the EAFRD, with the crisis reserve, but also with RESTORE, with the ERDF and with the European Social Fund. But I want to dedicate a moment to NextGenerationEU, which I think is white hope: 24% has been spent in my country and almost nothing has been spent on preventive water works. And, of course, nothing in agriculture: neither in simplification, nor in technology 5.0, nor in reducing the water footprint of agricultural sectors, which is essential for competitiveness. But today there has been talk of a concept of capital importance that is the circular economy. It is time to have income to fight climate change and for the agricultural sectors: At the moment, waste, by-products, can be an opportunity where we have to work to equip those sectors with technology and make them really competitive: in this case, reclaimed water (to balance the sector in terms of water consumption) and, of course, biogas, slurry or similar issues. I believe that the market is fundamental in these cases. We have to work on reciprocity clauses that allow the sectors not to have unfair competition and, of course, that they are not the ones who pay the tariffs of other countries. We must not only do it with the United States, but also, in this case, with China, and that is why we must have a powerful European legal cabinet that is a specialist in these cases. And, of course, make a CAP for the future that also works for professional farmers, who are the ones who are strengthening the population in the rural territory and will give the access we want to a powerful agriculture where young people - men and women - enter. Europe has to decide what it wants to be when it grows up: whether a beautiful museum or a beautiful and competitive museum. And there, agriculture has a lot to say.

Madam President, Spain and Valencia are deeply saddened by human life and the losses we have had. Today DANA is in my land, in Malaga, but we want to thank Europe for its solidarity. Climate change must be combated, especially DANA in the Mediterranean. But how? We are also fighting against the water denialism represented by Mrs Ribera. Because the Hydrological Plan in 2004 was also done by scientists, but there the Hydrological Plan was loaded, which clearly said that regulation reservoirs had to be made in the upper part of the torrential rivers as in Cheste. And they took it. So this is also fighting climate change. It is also fighting climate change to restore the channels. Of course I do. And they haven't. Who has the responsibility for the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation? Mrs. Ribera. And, gentlemen of the PSOE, everyone will be to blame; But Mrs Ribera, instead of, in the DANA, taking the reins and taking the lead - and you have to think about it - came here to prepare her tour for a personal matter and did not put herself, in the DANA, at the head of a situation of the worst that our country has suffered. That is why she cannot be Vice-President of this Committee. Valencians don't deserve it.

Mr President, we are talking about the future of rail in Europe, but now we have a present and, precisely, in our country, where there is unprecedented rail chaos. And that affects the precarious way the European connection looks. Isolation of regions such as Extremadura, Cantabria, important areas of Galicia or provinces such as Huelva or mine, Almería, which are absolutely isolated. And the latest incident in Chamartín, in Madrid, where a train has been derailed that has endangered users by circulating an uncontrolled convoy. I mean there are delays, cancellations, obsolete trains, saturated knots.... These facts are not isolated and that is why we are asking the Commission to act. Europe cannot afford that image, it has to intervene, and let us also really bet on very important railway axes in the Iberian Peninsula. We are talking about Seville-Huelva-Faro, Madrid-Lisbon, Lisbon-Porto-Vigo or the central corridor and the Mediterranean corridor, which currently has an accumulated delay until Almeria and which we need, with European funds, to be controlled, so that we go faster in all this. Therefore, our country at this moment, at present, has a very important negative in which the European Commission must participate and intervene.

Finally, because the beginning I think you have heard, we were talking about having a crisis, and especially in some countries. I told them that we had a crisis in Spain especially, with bluetongue or epizootic haemorrhagic disease, and that, in addition, there was a crisis throughout Europe. The measures that the European Union is putting in place are standard measures, but with those crises we need to increase resources, put more resources into research but also cohabit with vaccine investments. In addition, there are administrations that are putting the protocols in place and that are not necessarily the Member States: in my country, the autonomous communities are moving more resources than the Member State itself, and are also establishing all protocols; This must therefore be taken into account. We are aware that we have lost livestock in Europe dramatically. In addition, we need to have a more ambitious protocol. The CAP is an instrument, but the CAP is not endless, so we believe that there must be more resources in addition to the CAP and, of course, stricter border control is needed. I think this is a fundamental issue for the issue that brings us here today.

Madam President, Commissioner, first of all, what you are talking about is normal action on animal health issues, but at the moment we have a major crisis in Europe: I am especially telling you about my country, where, with bluetongue and epizootic haemorrhagic disease, we have a very serious problem. I think that at the moment it is talking about EUR 230 million, but with such a crisis, what has to be considered - and, if not, the new Commission - is additional budgets for a crisis situation like the one we are going through. Fundamentally, research coordination with Member States should be considered as well as the funding of vaccination from Europe. I also believe that livestock numbers are being lost at great strides at the moment, and it is a tragedy to also see the livestock situation and the farmers and rural areas in Europe that are being affected. Therefore, we need a protocol that is coordinated and possibilities, with a control ...

Mr President, thank you very much, Commissioner, and also the rapporteurs. I believe that the budget is committed to the productive sectors - as we particularly wanted and as President von der Leyen wanted in the strategic dialogue - but, in reality, although the EUR 96 million for the CAP and young people are very important, we have lost an opportunity to fight climate change with the productive sectors. In this case, the crisis reserve is not touched to increase it, with respect to drought there is no water perspective for Next Generation EU funds and, of course, this does not underpin food sovereignty, especially also in relation to the EMFAF, which falls by 11.6%, although it is a very vulnerable sector, but which is essential for the development of coastal areas and also to have a healthy protein to feed all Europeans. I think we have missed an opportunity here too with regard to the European Rural Pact: In particular, there is an impact of this Pact on the part of the regions with regard to the use of money in a comprehensive manner, but also outside the CAP budget. That is, we have many aspects to work on. We are happy to work on this commitment to the CAP with the increase, but we need at this moment that there are other aspects - especially for the fight against climate change - that, with the sectors, can be added to that work by providing them with economic resources. And, of course, the decrease in the EMFAF budget is not at all flattering to the Union's food sovereignty.

Mr President, Europe has a problem that has already become structural: climate change, especially drought, affects 45% of the territory, but especially in southern Europe, especially in territories such as mine, Spain, especially in autonomous communities such as Andalusia or Murcia. The autonomous communities have worked to have a 20 times lower water footprint in agricultural products, but, on the other hand, the Spanish Government has not used the NextGenerationEU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility on water issues more than very little; Yes in energy, but not in water, and that is the reality. We must work, and we therefore agree that a water police station should be set up at the moment and that a European water plan and a European water pact should be worked on, because this issue cannot be politicised, it is a social issue. In addition, access to water is in the Charter of Human Rights. And we have to work because 60% of crops are being destroyed in many territories. We cannot disdain any water source, we cannot politicize desalination, reclaimed water or interconnections. What is clear is that we must make a water revolution, throughout Europe, and the limit is only put by scientists, not politicians. The common agricultural policy must be a tool for that water revolution, for the water balance we seek, together with other additional European funds. Let us not forget that water becomes agriculture in food, those fundamental foods that Europeans need for food sovereignty and to consume healthy and sustainable food.

Mr President, Commissioner, we welcome this change of position, as we consider the dialogue with the sector to be very important. I also think that the sector has been asking us for help for a long time because of the problems of excessive demand: without time, without resources, with war conflicts, with costs ..., in addition to a Green Deal without resources or time. I think we have to fight to avoid CAP reductions and work to avoid bureaucracy: agriculture can't stand more regulations that, with the best intention in the world, are taking a turn for the worse for arable land. Nor can agriculture be the currency of tariffs, and it is essential to work on a food chain that gives security to the farmer, as well as being fair with their work and their product. We will demand mirror clauses to prevent unfair competition, and of course neither the livestock sector nor the wine sector can be demonised because they are basic to the European rural world. I believe that, in addition, competitiveness is essential if we want young people to be incorporated into the future of agriculture, and true sustainability is both the circular economy, with which we must work with by-products, providing added value, and ensuring access to water for the sector: the most productive areas are the driest areas and we have to fight that consequence of climate change. To the Social Democrats I say that small farms cannot be confronted with competitive and professional agriculture because they are fundamental to the food sovereignty of the European Union. Finally, we believe that fisheries should also benefit from this strategic dialogue.