Mr President, the coffee market is currently undergoing a serious crisis. Coffee sector workers are no longer able to make a living from production. Market prices, set by the four main multinationals, which make indecent profits, are too low to allow farmers to make the profits they need in order to continue their activity. Furthermore, as the coffee is being produced at too high a yield, its very quality is declining. As a result of the absence of an international system to stabilise coffee prices and prices of raw materials in general, the situation of coffee farmers is not viable. We must put an end to this spiral of productivism, which, in defiance of any social or environmental legislation, is leading to poverty for millions of farmers in poor countries. Some might say it is simply a coincidence that this crisis is taking place now that the Stabex system has disappeared from the Cotonou agreement. The new rapid payment system, furthermore, makes it impossible to help coffee-producing countries. As the main importer of coffee, the European Union bears the main responsibility in resolving this crisis. The European Union must set up an urgent programme, financed with the funds remaining from previous EDFs, in order to make up the shortfall in revenue of the people and countries concerned. We call on the Commission to produce a communication on basic products as a matter of urgency. Similarly, the Commission must support the International Coffee Organisation’s quality-improvement programme. In the longer term, the European Union must implement, for example within the framework of national and regional development plans, a range of measures designed to combat the volatility of coffee prices and prices of other basic products. The European Union must support diversification in Southern farmers’ production and high-quality agriculture, and contribute to increasing the power of coffee farmers against the agri-foods industries. In particular, the Commission must support the establishment of fair trade structures and facilitate market access for fair trade products. A Commission communication on this matter is becoming increasingly necessary. The matter of stabilising prices for raw materials, upon which the majority of the least developed countries depend, must be approached in the context of multilateral trade negotiations. The ‘development round’ instigated at Doha seems particularly appropriate, if we want developing countries to benefit genuinely from world trade, which is currently more to their disadvantage. The customs tariffs that are still in force for coffee products must therefore be removed. The European Union must use all its power at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun to ensure that trade with developing countries becomes fairer. Furthermore, we welcome the French proposal to add the matter of raw materials to the agenda for the next G8 summit. As major coffee companies, Nestlé, Kraft, Sara Lee and Procter and Gamble cannot continue to get away with lining their pockets. They must agree to adopt codes of ethical practice in agreement with the ILO and the UN and pay a fair price for raw materials, a price that reflects the social and environmental costs of coffee–growing and production. If farmers and workers in the coffee sector are to receive fair remuneration, fair trade is not just another option but the only sustainable global solution.

Political group: Verts-ALE