Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-24-Speech-2-018"
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"en.20020924.2.2-018"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome Mr Sjöstedt's report. In my opinion, he has done a splendid job, above all because he has dared to go beyond the minimal standard laid down by the Commission.
I do think that the way we vote on this in Parliament has to set a milestone, and – as the lady who spoke before me said – must make it clear that the protection of biodiversity and of the public has pride of place, but that so too does the freedom of choice of what we term third countries, to which we export. It has become clear from the latest reports from, and the latest difficulties with, the United Nations, with African States, especially Somalia – countries who have, as it were, a gun put to their heads and who are told to eat or die, countries where the hunger of people in these countries is exploited as a pretext for forcing them to buy genetically modified foodstuffs – that we are dealing here with a real lack of free choice. I cannot do other than urge the Commissioner to take a firm line with the USA, and I want to take this opportunity to beg you not to bow down before the USA's threats, but rather make it abundantly clear that we will not give way on this. Most of all, though, we must not lift the moratorium, for, as you will be aware, only one Member State has transposed the Release Directive.
Both a rule on liability and a satisfactory rule on labelling are a long way off. We have to focus on that. By this report and this vote, we have to show that we are in a position to close the gaping loopholes that are still there in the Cartagena Protocol. I want particularly to highlight food aid and the export of foodstuffs, where we must not yield to American pressure by denying these countries what they want, but must make clear that they have to be informed about these matters as well. Here too, what matters must be our refusal to trample on the right of consumers around the world to decide what they eat; above all, our vote must send a clear message that we cannot export to other countries a risk that we are unwilling to take ourselves. That was our experience with Eastern Europe, but especially with the Third World. We cannot simply move the risk elsewhere, but must make it our concern that the standard be enforced in Europe and that we avoid research that would not even be carried out here turning these countries into hazardous areas. We must not misuse these countries for the purpose of research that is full of risks. To do so would be not just an offence against safety; we would also be trampling human rights underfoot if we were to exploit these countries for the purposes of research that we find too risky.
Mr Sjöstedt has, though, already addressed the importance of our finding a truly satisfactory solution to the issues of liability and labelling. We have to fashion liability into a tool to get industry to deal with this issue in a more responsible manner, and so I would reiterate my plea to the Commissioner that she should, in her closing statement, enlarge on her view of UN food aid and what she plans to do about the moratorium until such time as we have sorted out these criteria, of which we would remind the Commission too, in a satisfactory way."@en1
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