Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-308"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031118.13.2-308"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Adam, for the very good job he has done on this report, and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development for bringing forward a very practical report. That is the key to the whole thing because, as Mr Adam has said, we very much want to be able to trace sheep movements. However, we have to realise that in the UK alone there are 35 million sheep and there are probably up to 100 million individual movements of sheep. The idea that every sheep could be recorded with a 14-digit number when it is being moved is completely ridiculous.
Let me take you through a scenario. A thousand ewes with 1 200 lambs are taken to the hillside. Six months later those sheep return and some of them have lost their tags. The Commission still insists that they should have the same individual number. I say to Commissioner Byrne quite clearly – and I am sure he realises this because he is an intelligent man – that the idea that the lamb will have the same tag is absolutely ridiculous. We have to realise that if you make the law an ass, it will be seen as an ass and we must be very careful to bring in legislation that is practical.
Our committee has voted for batch movements of sheep and it is clear that if those batches are moved you will be able to trace where they have been. If there is a problem with scrapie in sheep then the whole flock will be slaughtered, so individual numbers are not necessary. Provided that the holding number is on the tag, that is all that is needed.
As we move forward into electronic systems, we have to be absolutely sure of the cost to the industry of introducing this. We also need a system that will be practical. I have seen systems demonstrated in hotel rooms, but they have to be demonstrated on the hillside in pouring rain, to farmers and shepherds who can easily deal with that system.
All of these things have to be practical, because we need the sheep and lamb industry. I recently visited New Zealand, which has a lot of sheep. Sheep are necessary to the European Union, and we must be careful not to price ourselves out of that industry.
I would urge the Commission to look at our report practically and wake up to the idea that we have got it right."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples