Translation of "agriculteur à temps complet " (French → English) :

In my riding it is more often the case that so-called hobby farmers are part time or junior farmers who intend to become full time farmers but who are forced to seek off-farm income to supplement farm income.

However, Member States should be allowed to grant direct payments to smaller part-time farmers, since those farmers contribute directly to the vitality of rural areas.

Is a national provision, such as additional provision 7(1), rule 3(b) of Spain’s General Law on Social Security, contrary to clause 5(1)(a) of Council Directive 97/81/EC (2) of 15 December 1997 concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, in that it affects a group comprising mainly women, and according to which contribution gaps existing within the period for calculating the reference base of a permanent invalidity contributory pension, after a period of part-time employment, are covered by taking the minimum contribution bases applicable at any time, reduced as a result of the partiality c ...[+++]oefficient of the employment before the contribution gap, whereas if it the employment is full-time, there is no reduction?

Is a national provision, such as additional provision 7(1), rule 3(b) of Spain’s General Law on Social Security, contrary to Article 4 of Council Directive 79/7 (1) of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security, in that it affects a group comprising mainly women, and according to which contribution gaps existing within the period for calculating the reference base of a permanent invalidity contributory pension, after a period of part-time employment, are covered by taking the minimum contribution bases applicable at any time, reduced as a result o ...[+++]f the partiality coefficient of the employment before the contribution gap, whereas if the employment is full-time, there is no reduction?

shares the Commission's view that payments must be restricted to working farmers, with the proviso that part-time farmers must not lose out, since these play an important role in keeping farming alive, particularly in less favoured areas; suggests however that the Commission should provide basic definitions on the topics ‘working farmer’ and ‘farmland’ that can be further fleshed out at Member State or regional level;

In addition, with the recent reform of the farm structures regulations (objective 5a), new opportunities are being provided for both full-time and part-time farmers to diversify investments, to encourage installation of young farmers, to protect the environment and to concentrate aid in the less favoured areas.