8. With a view to question 114 of the Commission's Green Paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy asking for a ranking of priorities amongst the various issues raised in the Green Paper, endorses the importance of achieving effective solutions concerning the need for fair, open and balanced market access whilst promptly addressing other urgent issues, such as simplification and clarification of the rules, improving SME access to public contracts, driving innovation through public procurement and subsequently considering other aspects of the review of public procurement with regard to concessions; therefore calls on the ...[+++] Commission to first approach the issue of simplification of rules, achieving well-balanced access to public sector markets, improving SME access, and to undertake the revision of public procurement and concessions as a second step, in order to allow for the necessary, sound involvement not only of the European Parliament and the Member States, but also of citizens and businesses, with a view to achieving the necessary recognition for all of these important Single Market issues, which are highly relevant for the overall welfare of the EU;

8. With a view to question 114 of the Commission's Green Paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy asking for a ranking of priorities amongst the various issues raised in the Green Paper, endorses the importance of achieving effective solutions concerning the need for fair, open and balanced market access whilst promptly addressing other urgent issues, such as simplification and clarification of the rules, improving SME access to public contracts, driving innovation through public procurement and subsequently considering other aspects of the review of public procurement with regard to concessions; therefore calls on the ...[+++] Commission to first approach the issue of simplification of rules, achieving well-balanced access to public sector markets, improving SME access, and to undertake the revision of public procurement and concessions as a second step, in order to allow for the necessary, sound involvement not only of the European Parliament and the Member States, but also of citizens and businesses, with a view to achieving the necessary recognition for all of these important Single Market issues, which are highly relevant for the overall welfare of the EU;

Restoring balance in the market is important, and we are still a long way from being able to achieve a market balance by 2010 with regard to European sugar production and sugar beet cultivation.

Secondly, to maintain the structural balance of the markets in sugar at a price level close to the reference price, it should be possible for the Commission to decide to withdraw sugar from the market for as long as it takes for the market to rebalance.

14. For interest rate risk positions from underlying debt instruments or payment legs for which the interest rate is linked to a reference interest rate that represents a general market interest level, the remaining maturity is the length of the time interval up to the next re-adjustment of the interest rate.

These amendments introduce measures intended to make it possible to draw up reliable forecasts for the market based on thorough assessment of the means of production; to establish regulatory funds in all Member States, supported by Community aid, so that any pig producer in the European Union, whether breeder or fattener, who wants to join can do so in return for a commitment to stabilise output for five years; to establish conditions for the cofinancing of these funds by producers or their producer associations and by the European Union in order to encourage producers to join; to adjust the aid payments from these funds during periods of crisis and finally, to commit Member States to adopting, together with the Commission, the measures ...[+++]which appear to them to be best suited to restoring the balance of the markets in the event of a crisis. This effort to firm up the market must take into account developments in production in each Member State and must have a bearing on producers who do not join the regulatory funds.