Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-29-Speech-5-032"
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"en.19991029.3.5-032"2
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"Mr President, Mr Martinez will certainly be a hard act to follow.
The violence of the reaction from the Europeans across the channel to the measures taken by the French public authorities, in response to the recommendation by the agency that has already been mentioned here this morning, seems to be out of all proportion. It must be admitted that a three and a half-year ban is extremely harsh and that something that could be mistaken for a lack of goodwill can become the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I know that livestock breeders are suffering enormously and, as a result, I received a number of them in my office on Tuesday. The British are currently trying to set their health concerns about meat from animals fed with banned products, against the health concerns of the French.
I would, however, like to clarify a few things. Firstly, the beef war: cattle have not been fed meat meal since 1990 and are thus are no longer a factor in this problem. Secondly, it is undeniable that legal action must be taken against all the practises that have been criticised, and these must be severely censured. Thirdly, France is the only European country, apart from Belgium, to have undergone an inspection from a team of experts from the Commission. Does this mean that the British are not committing any offence, even when we know that their exporters have not had any misgivings about exporting contaminated meal, which was banned in their own country in 1988? They exported it to the Community until 1990, the date of the European ban on these products, and to other countries for a long time afterwards.
I would like to add that measures have been taken in France too, for if there is a sick animal in the herd, the whole herd is killed. We have had 22 cases compared to several thousand in the United Kingdom. It has to be said that this is another reason for the French not to feel particularly reassured any more.
As Northern Ireland is not restricted and transit through France is legal, trade can nevertheless still take place with all European countries except France. For my own information, I shall now ask the European Commission for some technical details. Which European countries are currently buying British meat, and in what quantity? I think that this will shed some light on the matter. All the evidence suggests that French consumers have no blanket, a priori prejudice against British meat: you only have to think of the great quantities of British beef to realise that this is the case. Producers and consumers must realise that the current debate is primarily a debate among scientific experts, who must be allowed to make their case freely. Producers and consumers should also be aware that scientific facts evolve as new discoveries are made.
I hope, for everyone’s sake, that screening tests are quickly implemented. Once the scientific debate is over, everyone will have to face up to his or her own responsibilities. It is indeed vital that the meat on European consumers’ plates is healthy. To conclude, I would like to say that I am delighted to see that throughout this crisis, governments and the respective professional organisations have finally sought to restore the calm that is essential for allowing a debate to progress, a debate which, all the evidence suggests, will not come to an end today, and I would simply ask the British Minister to adopt the same measures adopted by the French Minister."@en1
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