Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-031"
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"en.20021217.1.2-031"2
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"Mr President, no one on the temporary committee will ever forget the aftermath of that great foot and mouth plague of 2001. When we travelled the country we talked to the victims, those who could not be compensated, as well as those who were, those who could restock and begin again, hopefully in a more balanced and less intensive system of livestock production, and those whose lives were utterly changed, who had, as Mr Sturdy said, lost their dreams.
I would like to be able to agree with every word in this report and I salute the rapporteur's attempt to produce, as the Commissioner called it, a balanced, straightforward and future-oriented account. Where should it begin? It has to begin with the outbreak itself, with what actually happened and with the apportionment of blame.
A balanced report is one in which all those responsible accept some measure of the blame, including the UK Government. I would point out to the House that there have been five separate reports in the UK alone, two by local authorities severely affected by the crisis. There have also been reports by the National Farmers Union and others who were participants in the whole tragedy. So to say that this is the first time we have looked at this is quite wrong. Mr Kreissl-Dörfler has produced an objective account and one which seeks to be fair in its allocation of blame and responsibility. I am sorry that some of the amendments that have been tabled run counter to that intention.
We should not be attempting 20:20 hindsight. We should not be using shock logic to invent legal rules that were allegedly broken. When I hear Mrs Lucas speaking I am reminded of a Russian historian who once said to me that the wonderful thing about the past is that things are always changing there. You never know what is going to happen. The past is being rewritten here. That is not right. Some of the allegations in Mrs Lucas's speech were factually incorrect and should not be in this report at all.
I prefer to look ahead. I would like to think that we can salute others who have not been mentioned so far in this debate, in the blame culture in which it has been shrouded. Firstly, the foreign vets, more than 2 000 of whom came to the UK and tried to help us solve the problems with the outbreak. Also the farmers, the officials, the police who struggled through those terrible days in March and April before we knew where and how we could bring this under control.
Let us look ahead now: at inspections, movements of animals dead or alive, a fresh look at different kinds of agriculture, based on accountability, lessons learned – yes, including the lesson in objectivity which Mr Kreissl-Dörfler and the Chairwoman tried to bring to our committee and which persuaded most, though perhaps not all of us.
Finally, I would like to thank the Commissioner. It is right that it should be this Commissioner with his concerns and priorities who is replying in this debate. Essentially, it is a matter, not just of animal health, but of human health and welfare as well."@en1
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