Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-315"
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"en.20031118.13.2-315"2
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"Mr President, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the rapporteur on an exceptionally good job. I have known Mr Adam for over 14 years and he did not deserve this – he deserved better. He has done a tremendous job on what was a terrible proposal in the first instance.
The truth is that this will not work at ground level. I am totally in favour of what has been said about batch or flock identification. That will work, can work and is controllable. Anything other than that is totally irrelevant at this stage.
I will be totally in favour of electronic tagging, when we have the technology and when it is cheap enough. However, it has to be clearly assumed that that is something for the future. The Commissioner has to take on board one other very important point: the question of who pays, because sheep farmers cannot afford this. They have been battered for far too long. They are surviving in atrocious conditions to provide lamb for consumption in the European Union. To put this burden on them is totally unacceptable and for the producer it is unworkable.
I have a lot of respect for the Commissioner, but I have to say to him that it would be extremely helpful if his officials could put forward proposals after getting out of their glass ivory towers in Brussels and going to see the conditions people actually have to work and live in. Do you know what it is like at lambing time? Has anyone got a clue what it is like to lamb a flock of sheep day and night? Many farmers do not even sleep for days. This does nothing for the industry. We are over-regulating the industry; we are strangling agriculture by our regulations.
At the same time, I am told that in the United Kingdom, if you buy a chicken sandwich, 85% of the chicken comes from Brazil or Thailand. Where is it traceable to? How can there be traceability there? The agricultural industry cannot take any more of this. I urge the Commissioner to reflect on what has been said here tonight. This is sincere and from the heart. This is the people talking. I urge you to reflect and agree with the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and give us more time to get a proper identification system that will work."@en1
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