EU Sugar Reform

That the Parliament notes that the European Union’s (EU) system of sugar subsidies and trade barriers is having a devastating impact on wildlife and efforts to end poverty; further notes that many of the world’s poorest countries could grow sugar in ways that do not damage the environment and that contribute to much-needed poverty reduction but that they have been prevented from doing so by the EU sugar regime; further notes that, while the EU is proposing reforms to the regime, the changes suggested are not the best solution and will actually hurt some of the world’s most vulnerable people; supports calls by WWF, Oxfam and BirdLife International for the EU to implement a reform package that will ensure that developing countries have a sustainable future in sugar and in which they receive enough aid to adjust to the reforms to help themselves and the environment, and shares calls made by these organisations and at www.passport.panda.org for Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs and Chair of the European Council of Agriculture Ministers, to take advantage of being in the unique position of being able to ensure that European sugar reform will allow the world’s poorest farmers and the environment in Europe and abroad to benefit from both fairer trade and better aid.