However, we cannot accept the idea that the Commis
sion should acquire these quotas; such a step would mark the beginning of the death of a centuries-old activity, and lead to the relocation of first-processing companies, the loss of a crop in the cultivation of which Europeans have proved outstanding, and soaring unemployment, the co
sts whereof must be objectively established and calculated, so as to hammer home the fact that 'well-intentioned' measures can, without achieving their intended effects, cause huge an
...[+++]d irreparable social, political and economic damage, flatly contradicting the Commission's good intentions as regards rural development.