Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-05-Speech-2-061"
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"en.19991005.3.2-061"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let me say at the outset how pleased I am to have an opportunity to address you this morning on this important issue. This is a very timely debate and I am happy that it is taking place at an early stage of the Commission’s life. I am particularly happy of course to have my friend and colleague, the President, here with me to discuss these issues with you.
The first one relates to the dioxin issue and the Belgian authority’s involvement in that.
As many of you are aware, the tests that have taken place in Belgium have indicated that in one per cent of the examinations there was a small residue of dioxin and that this dioxin was present not as a result of the animal feed – what the tests were originally designed to determine – but rather from background industrial pollution.
It is reasonable to draw the conclusion, as many of you have, that if it exists in Belgium, there is a risk that it may exist in other parts of the European Union or, indeed, in other parts of the world.
I drew the Agricultural Council’s attention to my concern about this and informed the Council that it was my intention to add to the Residues Directive two further substances that are contained in the list of substances at Annex I. The two substances I intend adding are dioxin and PCB. In addition I informed the ministers that I wished to have monitoring take place in other Member States to determine the existence and levels – if any – of dioxin as a result of background environmental factors. I am happy to tell you that the ministers were very receptive to these proposals. I expect movement on this in the relatively near future.
The second issue that was of concern to me and to which I drew the ministers’ attention was the existence of sludge in foodstuffs. Some of you have mentioned this morning the importance of feeding stuffs. The common factor in a lot of these crises in relation to food, whether it is BSE, dioxin or sludge, is animal feeding stuffs. That is why I have focused on this issue as being an important one for examination and remedial action.
I pointed out to the ministers that there appears to be an argument being advanced that there is some ambiguity in the feeding stuffs legislation in relation to sludge. I am not satisfied that such ambiguity exists. I have said so. I expect Member States not to include residue in feeding stuffs. I pointed out to them that it is my belief that consumers are shocked by this development.
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I got a good reception from the ministers and they approved of the views that I put forward to them. I expect there to be progress on this front also.
In relation to the sludge issue, in the event that there is continuing difficulty on this and that an argument continues to be advanced that there is ambiguity, I will have no hesitation in bringing forward legislation to resolve any ambiguity that may exist.
Lastly, I drew the ministers’ attention to the question of GMOs and feedstuffs. I propose to bring forward another feed directive in relation to this matter. It is the best way to deal with it. I informed the ministers of that fact also.
We speak a lot about consumer confidence, but I would like to say once again that consumer confidence is not an objective in itself. The real objective is to achieve food safety as one of the pillars of public health policy. I have been giving some thought to how this can be achieved, and that is why I have made the proposal that we should bring forward a White Paper on food safety. I am pleased that this has been welcomed by you here this morning. The White Paper will contain an examination of important issues that have been raised by you, such as the control of the food chain, the reinforcement of controls, the labelling of foodstuffs, and the improvement of the early warning system so as to ensure that there is full transparency in the rapid alert system and in the early warning system.
The final issue I want to address this morning is the question of international trade and the relationship with the World Trade Organisation. All of you know that Articles 152 and 153 of the Treaty, as inserted in Amsterdam, give the portfolio for which I have responsibility considerable horizontal rights in relation to the examination of all Community policies. My belief is that it is essential that we focus – as President Prodi has said – on health issues and food issues as being of primary importance when we consider matters of international trade.
I look forward to discussing all these issues with you in the future and, specifically, as I have already said, at the Environment Committee later this month.
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A number of you have mentioned that there is not the degree of accountability or the degree of openness or transparency in relation to the rapid alert system that we would all like to see, and I intend to address that in the White Paper.
We have had quite a lot of discussion on the issue of a food agency. Its model is not yet fully determined, its shape has not yet been finally realised, but we have given some considerable thought to this already. I believe that we can have an agency that is independent, that gives scientific advice in an independent way, and yet at the same time can achieve the degree of accountability that all of you here as parliamentarians require and deserve. I believe that these two concepts are not mutually exclusive. They can both be achieved if we design the shape of the agency carefully and in a proper manner. And, of course, I look forward to discussing that with MEPs at the appropriate time and I look forward to the meeting that I will have with the Environment Committee later this month when this issue will be discussed further.
Greater transparency for consumers is absolutely essential. I will also be addressing the issue of traceability. Many of you mentioned this issue and it is, of course, of enormous importance.
There are a number of other issues that we would like to touch on. I am conscious of the amount of time I have available to me and I would like to point out that I will be discussing all of these issues in more detail with you at the Environment Committee meeting later in the month.
First of all, there is the issue of the controversy that has occurred recently in relation to the ban on UK beef. Let me say at the outset that I have received preliminary advice on the report that has been presented by the French authorities, and this advice leads me to the conclusion that there is no new evidence contained in that report that has not already been considered by the Scientific Steering Committee of the European Union. Bearing this in mind, I have sought to have an urgent meeting between officials from France and the Commission, and this will be taking place this week.
I have also, last night, sent a letter to the French authorities asking them to reply as a matter of urgency to me, and to set out whatever background evidence they may have that led them to the conclusions that they appear to have reached. If there is any new information contained in the reply from the French authorities, that of course will be referred by me immediately to my own scientific advisers and I will seek an urgent analysis from them of these matters. The preliminary advice available to me so far is that no such new information is available, but I wish to see if we can resolve this difficulty which has emerged over the last couple of days in a diplomatic and an amicable manner. It is for this reason that I wrote the letter last night and asked for the officials to meet one another.
Finally, I want to bring you up to date on the meetings which I had with the Agriculture Council last week in Brussels. I should say that this was the first occasion when a Commissioner with the responsibility for food safety attended the Agriculture Council. At that meeting, there were three issues that I focused on and I would like just to briefly refer to them with you this morning because these are issues that many of you have identified as being important."@en1
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