Arno BAUSEMER

Policy topics Arno BAUSEMER is active on

What Arno BAUSEMER has said (33)

• 2026-06-29 “(16:27:17 - 16:29:06): You very much. The commission representative isn't here anymore, but I wanted to invention under the previous item on the agenda that big businesses have enough. They don't need that 100,000. It would have been embarrassing and a real insult to those who are involved in large scale farming. Now perhaps we could get them back and ask them why they said this. What was the reason? What was the information about size of businesses, credit volumes, overturn turnover, sorry, and, what is perhaps we could talk about that with some of the, commission representatives. But let me say something now about this report. I think it'd be very good if this program on supply of milk, vegetable, and fruit could remain. And we know that in the member states and in larger countries, my homeland, there is a crisis increasing, and we need to keep talking about whether this still has value on what we will do in the future. Children and young people from a young age should be encouraged to think about the value of foodstuffs regarding geopolitical matters. We try to sort things out in politics, but it should normally be sorted out in the end by the market. If you look at the Foot World Cup, a lot of countries represented and I would you know, if you go up and have a barbecue in your garden and have a nice pork chop, have a nice evening together, and contribute as a consumer to the strengthening of our economy.”
  Agriculture (green)
• 2026-06-29 “(16:27:17 - 16:29:06): You very much. The commission representative isn't here anymore, but I wanted to invention under the previous item on the agenda that big businesses have enough. They don't need that 100,000. It would have been embarrassing and a real insult to those who are involved in large scale farming. Now perhaps we could get them back and ask them why they said this. What was the reason? What was the information about size of businesses, credit volumes, overturn turnover, sorry, and, what is perhaps we could talk about that with some of the, commission representatives. But let me say something now about this report. I think it'd be very good if this program on supply of milk, vegetable, and fruit could remain. And we know that in the member states and in larger countries, my homeland, there is a crisis increasing, and we need to keep talking about whether this still has value on what we will do in the future. Children and young people from a young age should be encouraged to think about the value of foodstuffs regarding geopolitical matters. We try to sort things out in politics, but it should normally be sorted out in the end by the market. If you look at the Foot World Cup, a lot of countries represented and I would you know, if you go up and have a barbecue in your garden and have a nice pork chop, have a nice evening together, and contribute as a consumer to the strengthening of our economy.”
  Nutrition
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much. I'm very annoyed that the commission is insisting that to really set up large farms against small farms. This method of capping a digression, as we've seen, heard, it's it's going to affect a large proportion of the farmers. And I have to think about my East German home. I'm from Saxony. We have 4 million people. It's in the middle of Germany. And there it's the case that degradation is going to affect 1400 holdings. And this is 20% of all of the, uh. But it's still going to be 80% of the area and 80% of the livestock, and this is also the majority of the employees. So this reduction to 96%. This really makes a lot of an impact. And let me refer to the speakers. How do you view this this these employees in Saxony or Mecklenburg and Berlin? Are you just going to sacrifice these people because you have these socialist planning games? You're playing sort of Robin Hood games, big versus small. This doesn't function very well. It's going to destroy agriculture. And if you want to have this kind of capping and digression, you have to, then how are you going to keep these areas open? The people who are actually farming the these hectares should not be punished. And whether they have 10 or 100. We need these larger Farms for food security. We can't just present this as though they're just going to earn all the money, because a lot of people work there, and a lot of people are gaining an income from there because they're employed there. And if you want to have these low, these large holdings, you can't have the cap as it is.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Yes. Thank you very much. President, the proposal directive gives a very clear definition of travel package. Package travel, which means that travelers can be reassured and they're going to be protected in the case of an unpleasant surprise. But we have to be careful. Obviously, there are those. We have to look at the kind of services provided by the different companies, and there are certain businesses that are being neglected by the commission. The idea of having this kind of overall package for package travel is a good one. But travel agencies, they may have a problem if for whatever reason, the traveler, uh, can have the travel refunded already when they've arrived. Well, the conditions have to be very clearly defined, and obviously we have to be careful and look out for the small and medium sized travel agencies as well. It's all well and good having these, uh, well structured proposals and provisions on paper, but if it means they can't be implemented, we may end up with some companies disappearing from the market.”
  EU Package Travel Directive: traveller protection vs business flexibility
• “Thank you. Chair. I would like to pick up on what Mr. Flanagan said. If this if the work of this this committee was was a film, I think it would be a horror film. And not a good one either. I'd like to pick up a couple of things when we talk about, I think, generally speaking if you look at income support going up to €300 million, that's an increase. No one. But I don't think anyone's going to say that's a bad thing. But if you take a closer look at how larger holdings are dealt with 1000 extra euros per holding. This doesn't make much sense. I mean, they're not going to need. That's pennies for them. More than €10,000 a year. That's not going to make a difference. And then there are some issues which aren't covered here. I think we saw in Strasbourg that the problem of Mercosur, it really is just the tip of the iceberg for farmers in Europe. We're talking about extremely high energy prices. And then this is also related to Mercosur. We're talking about imports from Ukraine. We're talking about tariffs for fertilizers. And the prices of fertilizers are rocketing. And many farmers are really are giving up. So it would be good if you if you have a more subsidies for per hectare. But I mean, if you're looking at the larger holders, we're talking about investors come from China or who knows where. I don't think we. This is the this is these are the type of immunity we find support for. So. And then the moving support for other types of holding as well. There are rules in the new draft, but there's no indication as to when these subsidies come into force. Whether it will be a once your income tops over €500. Is this will you get a one off payment or what happens? I mean, it simply isn't clear. You might say that you get €10,000. If you have 30 hectares or 50 hectares. It really isn't clear where this is going to end up in mass unemployment. We are destroying a job.”
  Direct payments to farmers (pillar 1)
• “Thank you very much. Madam president, ladies and gentlemen, if we want prosperity, we need competitiveness. And for that, we need strong nation states, and for that we need a patriotic alternative. The internal market must be strengthened, and the free freedom of movement for goods and services as an expression of that. But the ideological climate, many of the Commission continues. We have more than a thousand new legislative acts. Last year alone, 10,000 jobs in in Germany alone are disappearing every month. But look at the Draghi report. Hundreds of billions worth of new debt is what's talked about. And then residents in Berlin and other places in Germany to pay their taxes and debt of other countries. A strong Europe will only be a strong Europe will only exist if we have a Europe of sovereign nations. Thank you.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “Yes, madam. Here. All I can do is warn you against new red tape, new documentation requirements. It's good to have the right to repair, but there's got to be someone there who can repair the goods. In my own rural area, there are hardly any people that you can call these days when your TV set breaks down or whatever. Uh, and, uh. What people usually do if they can afford it is just buy a new one. So we need to cut the red tape, because often these people, sometimes they're retired people who still have those manual skills. They do it perhaps to supplement their, uh, their retirement pension. And, uh, if it's if they can't make ends meet, then they're not going to do that job. And if the burden is too great, then they're not going to do it either.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “It's okay for you. It's okay. Yeah. President. Ladies and gentlemen, a wave of a huge wave of insolvencies going through Germany. Last month, about over 1200 companies, um, became insolvent. And there hasn't been much by way of a reaction. Um, a green finance minister a few years ago said that, well, you can stop producing for a while and then come back to this, but if you close a bakery or a building company, then you don't reopen again. And now we have a bureaucratic monster lurking around the corner. And a few weeks before Christmas, there are a lot of people who are facing unemployment. The European Commission has come up with new burdens and you are deceiving people in a very deceptive way. You're going to make products more expensive, which is an even greater burden on the consumers. What is the point of exchange between traders if people cannot afford Christmas presents for their children? And it's almost like the angry old man from Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. That's the role that played by the president of the commission. So let's please not send even more people into insolvency before Christmas.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Madam president, Commissioner, colleagues, guests. I'm sure everyone here in the European Parliament is prepared to support protection of our young people. But how are we going to manage that? The left always say more rules. Data is collected. There's they're stored and they're used for control to assess people's actions. That is the back door into a surveillance state. And the commission wants to stop young people having access to places like Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. The contents are going to be monitored or censored. Well, when it's glorification of violence or pornography, that makes sense. But in other areas, these restrictions do not make sense. Every young person should be able to form their own opinion. It's not. A question of stopping them from going out on dangerous roads or eating dangerous mushrooms. Chill. Parents teach their children not to do these things, and children are not stupid so they understand it. Sometimes we're not up with the times, but there are quite a lot of real dangers in real life. We need to ensure, through education and parenting, that we give children an idea of what they can do and can't do. We need to teach children media competence at schools, but total control is not part of the solution. Free access to information is the great strength of the internet. That is a strength for citizens in Europe too. As parents, should we protect our children from the difficulties of life? Yes, but we should do it through parenting and education.”
  Age restrictions on children's access to social media
• “Madam president, ladies and gentlemen. The Common Agricultural Policy in Europe is only going to work if our farmers are in a position to get added value and to pass that on to the consumers. Now, the report has been said previously. Goes in the right direction. Has it gone all the way? No. I think a lot of people, particularly from the EPP, um, Uh, ah, um, looking, uh, at how to, uh, change legislation to get rid of legislation that isn't needed. Uh, but there are corrections that need to be made, and it's just the beginning when it comes to the new programming period. Uh, we need a better proposal from, uh, the, uh, commission. The cuts that have been proposed are absolutely unacceptable. Um, uh, ending the, uh, payments for, uh, farmers that are pensionable age are, uh, is absolutely, uh, not. Okay. Uh, now, just money isn't the solution to all our problems. But if we want to have high quality food products in the EU, then we have to provide financial support for that in the next programming period. We need to think about how we can better manage the cap. We need help for young farmers and, uh, giving, uh, farmers a decent income. No, uh, duplication of the amount of documents they have to, uh, fill in. We don't need a Mercosur agreement. We need to thank farmers for their valuable work. Thank you.”
  Direct payments to farmers (pillar 1)
• “Thank you very much, president. Ladies and gentlemen, the s d seem concerned That one of their colleagues is snorting nitrous oxide cartridges as we speak now. Horace Wells discovered nitrous oxide and used it on himself. Now, he wasn't using it to intoxicate himself. He was actually looking for an anesthetic in order to pull out one of his wisdom teeth without it hurting. It was a successful experiment, and therefore nitrous oxide was used for small operations and dental operations for many years. Horace Wells couldn't have imagined that 200 years later, we in the European Parliament would be talking about a ban on selling it to the general public. At the moment, nitrous oxide isn't that big a deal in medicine, but it is being used by young people as a drug. Side effects include unconsciousness, dizziness, and more. And when used in excess, it can be damage to the spinal cord. Studies show this. So for young people, we can't just turn another cheek. In Germany, the parliament banned the sale of laughing gas to young people and that includes vending machines. They have been consigned to history. We have to protect young people from side effects. Okay. That's something that we've seen can be dealt with at national level. However, a general ban on the sale of nitrous oxide is less easy to justify. Individuals should be able to decide whether they want to buy nitrous oxide or not. We shouldn't be speaking on behalf of citizens at national or European level. We don't need any more state banned. Some people might want to go down to the cellar and have a bit of fun with a couple of doses of nitrous oxide. Now we can condemn that or not, but it's not our job to define how adults pass their time. I would also just like to say that the green ban mentality should be banned from the parliament. We shouldn't be speaking on behalf of our citizens in this way.”
  EU measures on lifestyle-related behaviours (smoking, drinking, eating, etc.) · Recreational nitrous oxide / novel psychoactive substances (NPS) regulation
• “Yes. Thank you to the ECJ for their report, which is very sensible and very sober in technical terms. I asked myself, well, everybody's talking about competitiveness and about bureaucracy, and one always hears omnibus. Well, and you ask yourself, who's actually at the steering wheel of this omnibus? Perhaps the commission is either stepping on the brake or even worse, uh, is driving the wrong way up a one way system. So we're not doing any favors to the farmers here. They're just providing an obstacle to them. So competitiveness is very important for farmers, but the farmers need a basic support in order to be able to run their farms. So. It is sensible. Of course, we can't focus just on on this. If we be careful to focus too much on these objectives, because otherwise we won't have any farmers. And I think that this report is giving us a sense of the right direction.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. Well, here we're talking about fertilizers today, all kinds of sustainability studies, other environmental items, and every farmer is going to panic when they hear that this is all part of this plan that we're discussing. But it doesn't matter how you look at it. Then here, farmers don't want to have green, green fertilizers. They just want to have fertilizers. They want to have them at a more affordable rate as well. If you haven't noticed, we have very high energy prices in Europe and in Germany. We have been the sad leader in this group. We have been helping Ukraine and doing all kinds of other things in the European Union, but then nothing for the farmers. Do you think the farmers standing outside today are going to go along with this? No, they don't want this green planned economy. We are going to then reject this debacle that you've put forward.”
  Use of fertilisers
• “Madam president, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the number of farms is declining and costs for our farmers are growing. This is why it's so important that we have no more cuts in our agricultural policy. Just because we need to supply arms or pay a support to green lobbies. Um, I'm sorry, but that's not acceptable. We have to fight back, and we have to be. We have to protest loudly. Um, farmers should not be the victims of some green ideological dreams. In contrast to your NGOs and dubious associations, farmers are creating value every day. Tangible, physical and testable value. Producing food 500 million citizens is only possible if we have farmers who can make a living from what they're doing. If you keep on imposing more and more green requirements and then sending money to Turkey or Ukraine or whatever. More and more agreements allowing cheap imports from Mercosur, which are bad for our farmers. We need to put a stop to this. We stand firmly beside the farmers.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Madam president, ladies and gentlemen, this report calls for measures to protect farmers against unfair trading practices and cross border context. But who is actually protecting our farmers from unfair trading practices conducted by the European Commission. The Commission is always setting out all sorts of flowery speeches about its ideas, are trying to hide the negative impact of their policies for everyone involved. The best way would be to reduce red tape the need for documents from farmers, accompanied by stable financial support, which isn't which aren't just compensatory payments, but which actually, um, guarantee the high quality of farming products in Europe. The European Commission's farming policy under von der Leyen has led to a gradual destruction of the means of existence. Rafah. The main victims of the Cap tend to be small farmers who are being pushed out of the market. Large businesses with large farms will continue to be supported, uh, unless we change the rules. So the smaller farmers in the meantime are punished rather than And supported support for the European farming and farming industry forced them to make artificial choices. The importing of goods from Ukraine, for example, has led to a completely unfair competitive competition for our farmers. The same would apply to the planned Mercosur agreement, which would also lead to further distortions of competition.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I think the discussion on terminology is not going to help farmers, nor is it going to help the farmers to survive. I hear the Greens saying we need to use organic manure, but at the same time we're talking about reducing the number of animals so there'd be less manure. So that's a contradiction. The discussion over the last while has shown that across groups there's a. Criticism of the reduction of 20% for farming. And I think it's a pity that nothing has happened in the last six weeks. Instead of talking about terminology, we should focus as a parliament on these cuts. And we should also focus on Mercosur. The Greens have said how awful glyphosate is. These are things that have been discussed in the US. And if we want imports and if we impose limits on our own farming and we're simply destroying European farming. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “The US should be happy. You don't have to like Trump. But, uh, he has done what he said. He is dealing in the interests of his citizens at the same time. There's Ursula von der Leyen on the other side, had no votes in the European elections, but and she dealt with dodgy vaccine deals and she got involved with the Green Deal, which ruined the competitiveness of our industries. And for a few weeks ago she got through a vote of no confidence here. And we've got a deal that, uh, is going to harm our economy again with, uh, 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium that has an impact on machinery. And German exporters, um, are wringing their hands here. The Chamber of Commerce in Germany has said that, uh, many companies think this is terrible. So it's time for the EU Parliament to recognise that the president of the European Union is the biggest threat to European trade.”
  Climate efforts
• “President. Ladies and gentlemen. It's late, but I'd like to welcome you into the fantasy world of the green people who want to make the world better. They're looking at the sun and the wind and getting that into electricity. Into your home at a very cheap rate. And to make things even better, they want to turn off the tap for Russian gas. And then the EU is going to crumble. What they're doing here is just mentioning nonsense. They haven't understood anything over the past three years. These new packages of sanctions only ever harm our own people. And in Germany you have 10,000 jobs that are disappearing every month. They're gone. Have they understood that Russia is just going to look for new customers? They have 50,000,000,000m³ of gas that they're going to send to China. Putin and his friends. You are just offending people who criticize you. Looking at this new old Europe and we need to work to support our citizens. We need to have these economic relations with Russia. Thank you.”
  EU approach to energy security (home-made vs import sources)
• “Thank you, Madam Chair and Commissioner. These 20% cuts are a huge mistake and will not make farming more attractive. The idea that after 65 you don't get an area payment anymore is a ridiculous idea. I mean, okay, you can talk about age discrimination, but on the other hand, you can't say. I mean, how many farmers have a pension that suffices. I mean, I know this problem. You can't drive people out of their profession. That is just simply a mistake. And it's not automatically going to get new farmers coming in anyway. Obviously the average age is too high, but look at different measures. In Greece it was seen that for years there was corruption, fraud and these 419 million in fines. Where do they go? I mean, this is a suggestion. Perhaps those monies could be used to dedicate to young farmers. If there's been fraud, what happens to that money that is recouped or the penalties? At least use them to promote farming?”
  Direct payments to farmers (pillar 1)
• “Thank you. Chairman, I don't have anything good to say about this report. I agree with Mr. Kinothek. Mr. Freund, you are continuing to wage war against Eastern Europe. Your answers have been answered very clearly. The cases went within his remit at the time. Now, yesterday, May, the left wing terrorist was sentenced for eight years in Budapest. So the rule of law works there in Germany. Rule of law is being used to silence and stifle dissent. We know what is happening in Germany. It really is a witch hunt rather than a proper approach. Yes. I don't think anything should become a witch hunt or used for political campaigns.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “Yeah. Thank you. Well, there's a lot of talk today about the rule of law. And, excuse me, the security of planning. And I think that, uh, farmers who are listening in will they'll be wondering about, uh, the details. I mean, our colleague from the Court of Auditors did mention some of them, but it was in general terms. I mean, what I'm not hearing is the consequences of taking Ukraine into the European Union would have if that were to happen. And, uh, so the consequences which costs that might have and how we'd fill the gaps if there were any. Because that would mean there'd be even less money available for our farmers. They're working hard every day on their farms, and they get less and less security in terms of planning. And then a second point, which was mentioned by Mr. Purnell is Mercosur. I mean, here again, planning the security of planning and. Rules are being called into question. Citizens expect us to represent their interests. Farmers were demonstrating in January in Strasbourg, and they expect us to represent their interests as well. And they were successful to a certain extent when we said that we would send the Mercosur agreement to the Court of Justice for assessment. But these are things that the commission simply doesn't seem to worry about. The old parties call themselves democratic. They think that they're the only democratic parties. But what's the situation in terms of democracy in the European Union when, uh, citizens demands and also the courts are simply ignored? I mean, we have a massive problem here. We really need to defend democracy and legality here in the European Parliament.”
  Trade relations with Mercosur
• “Yes. Every farmer wants to have that basic nature in place that is for our survival. That's why it doesn't really make any sense. Saying that livestock farmers want to pollute the environment with carbon dioxide. Of course they want nature to be protected. But in Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany about ten years ago, there was an EU system where you couldn't even go on the Elbe, on the Elbe meadows, where people had been working for centuries. That was just ridiculous. People don't want to be messed around. We should here be helping the farmers rather than placing all kinds of obstacles in their way. And it's not just that we need to be creative, that we need to think about this, but we need to get on board with it.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “Mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, for young sports fans like me, you can see the Australian Open or the Handball World Championship, as you can see this quite easily. Everything is available worldwide now. We are the real fans like me. I like to be there live. For example, you go to Munich to see a Champions League game against Union Saint-Gilloise, and you can see that it's, you can see if you get a subscription. And obviously we need to make sure that sports are financed and this comes from broadcast payments. Now online streaming use legal tricks to make to make these available online. So that means for many sports fans with on low incomes, they have no option but to do this. The EU Commission has trying to regulate this. And we're looking at the Digital Service Act. They think that you can do this, but people are, are are looking at people are being are becoming annoyed because they see that their next door neighbors are watching online illegal streaming sites when they're paying for it. And obviously we don't want people just informing on the next door neighbors, but we want to see a strong implementation of rules in member states so that these online sites can be stopped, and to make sure that they can be taken down in a real time. And we need to make sure it's not just trying to stop the actual consumers who have to do this, but we need it would be a great achievement to have a Europe wide application.”
  Broadcasting of sports events
• “I share the misgivings expressed by previous speakers when it comes to bureaucracy. The German Chamber of Commerce has also warned against the increase in bureaucracy through the introduction of the digital product passports, as have other entities. Now, a couple of months ago, I met with representatives of a plastics processing company. It's a smallish company, ten employees and energy prices where their main concern and also the reporting obligations. And I'd like to hear from the Commission how SMEs are to manage all of this. And how do they pay for all of this? Now, you said consumers are willing to pay more for the product. I don't believe that statement. Uh, many companies are under financial. Pressure, but families are too. Fair enough. It's a good idea, you know. To provide more information. About the products. And, you know, that includes labeling and and origin and so on. But companies need to be able to afford this. You know, we have a lot of companies going to the wall, a lot of bankruptcies. And we need to avoid that. We need consumer protection, of course, but we also need to protect SMEs.”
  Product passport
• “Thank you for correcting that. I did ask for the floor again, very briefly. I think a lot of citizens wonder about why certain agencies exist at all, and it doesn't really matter whether men or women are working there, as long as we have competent people working there. And the Frontex agency was mentioned, it would be important to have more people there. We talk, we have the training centre. We have to make sure that that is sufficiently staffed so that we can have some results. So that we can put a stop to illegal migration to Europe. There are some people who apply for asylum, but it's rather questionable. But that would be somewhere where it's really important to have sufficient staff to make sure we get results.”
  Asylum & border control
• “Honourable president. Prime Minister. A strong Europe in a world in change. That's the slogan of the Danish presidency. Well, we need a Europe with safe external borders. And we need to take steps against illegal immigration. So certain positive actions have already been introduced in Denmark. So let's hope that at the end of the day, we have positive, uh, movements in the area of immigration. I see that the Greens and the left are enthusiastic about keeping immigration flowing, so not much hope there. So if you be decisive, be decisive, just as just as the trainer or the coach of your handball team. In Denmark, if you look at the world championship, for instance, there was a protest and Nicholas Jacobson actually. Actually removed these individuals from the game because they wanted to continue their games with a great success. I wish you a successful Europe without any disturbances from abroad. Thank you.”
  Asylum & border control
• “It is unacceptable that 88. Are made permanent. And we are stuck with huge imports produced to different standards than those imposed on EU farmers, as has been pointed out. Sometimes these crops are treated with pesticides that have long been banned. Here we would welcome an end to these measures. We do not believe they should be extended. We would all like to see a swift end to this war, but we cannot allow our farmers to pick up the price tag for this war. They risk losing their livelihoods because they cannot compete against these imports. We should put an end to it.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Thank you very much. I wanted to pick up on the issue of competitiveness problems we are seeing in Europe an unprecedented level of de-industrialisation because of the Green Deal, because of the wrong energy policy. We also have the giving up of nuclear power in Germany. In Wolfsburg last week I could read that VW Is now the outsourcing research to China. So something really quite basic when it comes to value creation not happening in Germany. In my home region of Saxony-Anhalt, we would have liked to have Intel based there, but we were told that Interieur decided they weren't going ahead because of problems with the regional government. So I think this is a question, therefore, for Mr. Lundgren about energy policy. I don't know whether it's worth it to invest over a periods like 15 days. And what do you think about energy policy in Europe at the moment? Giving up on Russian gas, for example, the whole goal of carbon neutrality, which is meaning that energy is more expensive. Are you really investing for the long term in Europe, or do you have a plan B and a plan C to maybe go elsewhere? Perhaps when it comes to dealing with computing centers. They use a lot of energy if you're trying to run AI. So would you be doing that in the long term out of Europe?”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Yes, thank you very much. And thank you for having chosen the career of farmer. Thank you for your, uh, very self-confident, uh, presentations. But the issue is often money. How are you going to. How are you talking about this cut of 20% in the cap in your local associations are people saying, let's not get into this whole career at all? Or or are people saying we have to find a way to deal with it because these cutbacks are going to affect your long term planning? It's going to make it very difficult to plan if you're going to have to survive with less. Second question is on Mercosur. We've already got the issue of imports from Ukraine and through the Mercosur agreement, this downward pressure on prices is going to be just intensified. Would you say that with different standards, is competition distorted? Competition means you need to be able to compete with the same standards, rather than having different standards where the political issues that are trying to be pushed through. What do you think about these imports? Is it positive or will it damage agriculture? Thank you.”
  Trade relations with Mercosur
• “Thank you, Madam Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner. If I just can pick up what Mr. Flannagan was saying. I think 1 million farmers in Europe would immediately support a vote of no confidence, since you're simply not satisfying the expectations. We can talk about doubling or tripling things. Fair enough. But if we start cutting from 780 to €300 billion, that's something which farmers simply won't and can't understand. Farmers are under enormous pressure. We've seen the increase in costs, higher energy prices, more expensive fertilisers because of tariffs. The pending Mercosur agreement, which will flood our markets with poorly controlled and non standardised products. So in these circumstances, we should send a clear signal to farmers saying that we want to guarantee their future with support. We simply can't do what's being suggested now. I'd like to link this into a question. There's some doubt as to whether there is any clear intention to allow Ukraine to accede to the European Union. I would like to know where the budget there has been guaranteed. And would this budget be subject to dynamic increases if such a large country as Ukraine, with enormous an enormous area of farmland, would to join the European Union? This would have a massive impact on the budget, and our farmers need to know whether they have guarantees for the 6 or 7 years after 2028. Or is there a real risk that the budget might decrease proportionately? So what I'd like to know is whether there will be any possibility of increasing the overall budget.”
  Agricultural funding
• “President. Ladies and gentlemen. Commissioner. It's an error to make policy which is against European citizens. It's an even bigger mistake. To do something which goes against those who feed us. Farmers. Farmers produce wholesome goods in the EU, and what they do is unique. And what we hear is false. There is no competitiveness. There is no competition. If you compare our standards, our quality standards with the lower Mercosur standards. I am also a small scale farmer. It's my second job and I stood side by side with farmers during protests in Brussels and in Strasbourg. Where were you? Where was the commission you sent the police in? Because your farm. Because you're scared to talk to farmers. You're scared to talk to farmers. The ESM colleague just quoted the head of the German Farmers Union, the head of the German Farmers Union said, we cannot compete with these Mercosur products. They will flood our market. This is the wrong path to take. Our responsibility is to ensure that farmers in Europe can bring their product to market. We hear some in this house, particularly the Greens, who say that we they say that we can get zinc, iron and high quality protein. You know, they want you to eat yellow mealworm. The greens want you to eat yellow mealworm instead of high quality meat. That's what the greens say. Then I hear and I say to the EPP, let's ignore the greens, let's leave them to the side. Let's not let that kind of policy be our policy. Let's have policy that is in favour of European citizens. And I look to Germany, if you are, if if we are part of a German government, if we are part of a German federal government, we would never let this kind of agreement pass. And let me tell you, we are standing side by side with farmers. We're actually at the forefront during protests and we want to prevent this agreement.”
  Trade relations with Mercosur
• “Thank you, Vice president. Well, I would like to focus in a practical way, uh, on, uh, middle class, middle sized businesses. Last week, I was, uh, um, a guest in Saxony. Anhalt, uh, in a company that produces, uh, uh, artificial products. They've got seven members of staff. They've managed to survive so far. They've been around since 1953, and the 60th year of their existence almost went bankrupt in 2013. And the director said that the EU had helped, uh, and saved the company. That's the good thing. The bad thing is that they have two big problems. Bureaucracy, for example, uh, documentation obligations. They don't mind the businesses don't mind whether they submit papers or do it digitally. But I wondered, how are you going to reduce this red tape for small and middle sized businesses? And the biggest problem is energy prices that have risen drastically and that are causing great problems for these companies. Are you going to do anything about that? Like Mr. Mueller? Well, luckily the new nuclear power station is going to be built. What is your stance, uh, on, uh, on all of this? There's not much, much competition, uh, for, uh, Germany. Uh, uh, how are you going to make sure that in Germany as well, uh, our industry remains competitive? Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Yes. I think what we're experiencing is that agriculture is coming under pressure from many times. And this proposal for these national funds, we think that it really will be a chunk taken out of Cap. And there are a lot of policy risks with this because the cap will be weakened. The. To put this into one unified fund with other policy fields. Well agriculture will have to compete with that. And there's a risk that in reality that money will be moved into other areas. And there. So there are several problems which could arise. And I think this will not help the farmers. And so we should think carefully about whether we really want to make such far reaching changes to cap with all the risks that that will bring. And there's also a question that I would like to put to you. Um, there is this plan that farmers that have reached 65, they should then not be allowed to receive any Cap funds. And I would like to ask whether you've really thought about that, because if you have older farmers who are simply pushed into being unemployed, that's not going to create a generational transition. It's just going to destroy, uh, agriculture. And so is the commission ready to think about that, or are you going to continue to be against older farmers who still want to be able to feed their families? Uh, perhaps over and above the past, the retirement age? So there you have to remember also that unlike commission workers, the farmers don't have huge, uh, pensions. And they will be then confronted with ruin. So I would like to ask you to correct that. Thank you.”
  Agricultural funding