Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, in this first speech I would like to highlight dialogue as a positive point. It is crucial that we decide with farmers, in partnership with farmers, and not on their backs. A second note to strengthen the reference to a strategic pillar on the issue of food security, but also agriculture itself. There can be no strategic autonomy for the European Union without a strong and robust agri-food sector. That is why I also welcome the creation of the Just Transition Fund for the agricultural sector as a way to maintain the level playing field. I would also like to highlight the need to improve farmers' incomes and recall that, in 20 years, the average income of farmers has always been well below the average of the other sectors of the economy. This has to be changed. But I also highlight the appreciation of the position of the farmer in the food supply chain, the reduction of bureaucracy, the improvement of transparency in price formation, the fight against unfair trading practices and the increase of the attractiveness of the sector, which promotes the entry of young people. In this regard, I would point out in particular that, in recent years, the European Union has lost one third of its farmers and 57% of our farmers are over 55 years old. In Portugal, my country of origin, the average age of a farmer is 64 and only 6.5% of farmers are under 35. We will certainly not have a future on this path. But this report does not say that the European Union, in the last three decades, has been the only one to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, when it accounts for only 7% of global emissions. Nevertheless, the sustainability of the agricultural sector must be a priority. This result, also of European agriculture, should be disseminated to Europeans so that they know what has been done. The service that farmers provide to the environment should also be properly remunerated. The report also does not say that about 98% of European agricultural products show traces of pesticides below zero...