Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-18-Speech-1-190"
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"en.20070618.18.1-190"2
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"Madam President, in fact Mr Stevenson is right: eight years ago Labour MEPs were calling for an end to the cruel trade in cat and dog fur.
Commissioner, you will probably remember that the late Phillip Whitehead, the former chairman of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, asked you as a Commission to take action. On 30 December last year, I received a petition on behalf of concerned citizens signed by over a quarter of a million people calling for us to bring in that ban. We have acted, but I believe that it is the citizens, in their determination, and animal welfare campaigners who should take the credit for this new law and for helping us to persuade you, Commissioner, to give us the legal power to ban it.
There is plenty of evidence of the inhuman treatment of cats and dogs bred for fur. Animal welfare organisations have been contacting my office and welcoming the law. Their only criticism is that it has taken us too long. But this law is also about protecting consumers who have unwittingly been deceived into buying clothes, toys and household products made from cat and dog fur. I would say that people power can win the day over bureaucracy and legal barriers.
I want to stress to the Commission and to the Member States that the committee’s negotiating team wanted the EU to adopt the highest international standards and best practices in ensuring we ban this obscene trade and that cat and dog fur products do not end up in the shops by the back door.
So can I just be very clear: we insist no loopholes are created by not possible derogations, exceptional derogations. That is the language of the agreement we made with the Commission and the Member States. We insist on a report back on how the ban is being implemented and action if it is not working. We expect Member States to take their responsibilities seriously in both implementing and enforcing the ban. There must be tough and dissuasive penalties to deter the cat and dog fur traders. In short, a ban must mean a ban in principle and in practice
not a restriction enabling continuation of the trade by the back door."@en1
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