Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-065"
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"en.20071211.8.2-065"2
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"Madam President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for her comments this morning and also Mr Mulder for his cooperation on this report.
Last week an RTE television programme (which I once edited and presented) asked the very simple question, ‘How many inspectors does it take to examine a farm?’ In the case of one farmer, Eamon Healy of Redcross, County Wicklow, it took seven inspections and nine inspectors in a three-month period to examine his farm! And I think that, by any standards, that level of inspection is excessive and very unwelcome on a farm that is active and busy. I think it says a lot about the need to radically alter the way we carry out our cross-compliance checks on farms and also the need to streamline – as Mr Mulder said – the many different types of inspections, whether they are Member State or private industry, or EU-required.
About 68% of cases of non-compliance are considered to be minor, yet they lead to sanctions, and I think we need flexibility around this. I believe that a sanction of less than EUR 250 should not be imposed. I know the Commission has other ideas, but I hope it will be persuaded by our arguments.
Over 70% of cases are around the loss of an ear-tag or some minor issue about identification, with no problems or risk to human health or animal health, and I think we need more flexibility around this particular problem. We need to be proportionate. I think we do need to give farmers advance notice. Many are part-time and giving them advance notice allows them to plan for an inspection. They cannot really alter much on the farm within a short space of time.
So I think we need to be practical. I doubt very much if Eamon Healy, the farmer I just mentioned, is aware of our debate here this morning. I do not think he is logged on and listening. But I know he will be very keen to find out the outcome of our work and our vote. He does not want seven inspections or nine inspectors on his farm in a three-month period and he is telling us that we need to streamline how we do our work. I think we owe it to him and to other farmers to get on with it."@en1
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