October 31, 2005: Sugar beet industry
faces ruin over proposed increased tariff cuts
Euro MP Robert Sturdy
has warned that the European sugar beet industry faces ruin if
further proposed cuts to its price are agreed.
The European Commission
has announced its steepest-ever cut in agricultural tariffs in
a bid to break a deadlock in world trade talks.
He said: "These proposals go much further than expected and will finish the production of sugar beet in Europe. These proposals are meant to help the world's poor get a better deal from world trade. If this massive price cut goes through it will destroy thousands of jobs in African, Caribbean and Pacific island countries and for what? To give multi-national companies cheaper sugar and bigger profits; the savings won't be passed on to shoppers.
"The proposed cuts show both the Agriculture Committee and the Agriculture Commission to be pointless: their views have been completely ignored. You may as well call it the Peter Mandelson Committee. If the Trade Commissioner can decide how to reform agriculture then what is the point of having an Agriculture Commissioner? These cuts will finish the production of sugar beet in the European Union and do nothing to help British companies to gain access to those markets around the world who stand to benefit from this.
"I have very serious concerns about how this will hit farmers, particularly in the Eastern Region who I represent, who three months ago joined a rally in Brussels attended by thousands European farmers to express their concerns. They will not be able to carry on.
"Many food imports coming into the European Union are not produced to sufficiently high standards. At a time when threats like bird flu demand ever greater scrutiny of food production methods this is a step in the wrong direction. It is vital that we put in place legislation ensuring that all imports into the EU, whether food, chemicals or anything else must be processed to the same high standards we enforce to guarantee public safety."
Mr Sturdy believes Mr Mandelson should be doing
more to help and support farmers; instead, Europe faces being swamped
with cheap imports which it cannot compete against.
