Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-02-Speech-2-281"
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"en.20020702.11.2-281"2
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"Madam President, Commissioners, congratulations, first, to both members of the Commission. I think you have delivered a very ambitious paper and a good basis for discussion with Parliament. But just think: if all your proposals are accepted, 70-80% of all foods already on the market would have to be labelled. So we could say, in the words of our great pioneering Socialist thinker Mr Bowe, alright, perhaps it would have been a brighter idea to turn the whole thing on its head and only label positively? My congratulations to Mr Bowe on his superb and frank speech.
What we are giving consumers to believe, of course, is that, when they finally find something among the rows and rows of labelled products which does not have a GMO label, these remaining products are completely clean. But consumers do not know that and perhaps they should not know that. They will have a hard time of it in any case, because things are about to get worse. One per cent? It might still have something in it. We are already in a Dutch auction: 0.5%, 0.1% for Mrs Gebhardt. Why not 0.01%? Our resident scientist Mr Trakatellis says that, in a few years' time, we shall have proof for everything. In the end we shall reach a point where 99% of all food is labelled. And what is the poor consumer supposed to do? What is the consumer supposed to make of all this? It is a pretty poor show on our part to say to the consumer that this 1% does not need to be labelled, unless the company has acted maliciously and did not label intentionally or cannot submit the evidence. What does the consumer care about that? Does it make it healthier or less healthy for the consumer if the company can or cannot submit the evidence? The whole thing is a farce! It is such a comedy that I really do understand when consumers – and I too am a consumer – wonder what the politicians will dream up next.
My dear Commissioners, my confidence in you knows no bounds. The Commission proposed in the White Paper on food safety on 12 January 2000 that it would submit a regulation on labelling GM-free food and that would be a wonderful, rounded addition to your proposal. Luckily the Liberals have included it in a proposed amendment. We in Austria have taken this wonderful Austrian way forward. I am not suggesting that you proceed
Commissioner, although you are always more than welcome to come walking in the Austrian mountains with us. But there is still time between now and the second reading to take the proper way forward and include positive labelling. Then, my dear Commissioners, we will be very definitely satisfied with your proposal. I have every confidence in you."@en1
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"à l'autrichienne"1
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