Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-29-Speech-5-040"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"1999-10-29"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:British beef and veal2
dcterms:Language	"fr"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.19991029.3.5-040"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:1999-10-29-Speech-5-0412
lpv:speaker	lp:Marie Anne Isler Béguin2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Les Verts-Europe-Ecologie (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Delegations to the parliamentary cooperation committees for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (1999-09-28--2002-01-14)3 member; G/EFA (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, Commissioner, it is true that we are not proud of the situation in which the farming profession finds itself today. But you can be assured that I shall not be speaking just as a Frenchwoman, but primarily as an ecologist and as a European. This is why I am fighting for the environment, and particularly for the precautionary principle, as much for Great Britain as for France, Spain and the countries of Southern Europe. This precautionary principle is, for us, a political line which must be followed in order to guarantee food safety itself. In France, it was under pressure from the people, from consumers, and of course from ecologists and Greens, that this agency for food safety was established. The agency made a recommendation, and of course the French government acted on it. Therefore people cannot refuse to accept the French position, all the more so as we are calling for this type of agency to be established at a European level. Of course, I hope that MEPs and the Commission will follow the recommendations of this future agency once it has been established. But we must spare a thought for the farmers. Mad cow disease dealt them a terrible blow and they barely recovered from it. It is completely unacceptable today to allow the situation to become poisoned by letting citizens from the same profession within the European Union stand in opposition to one another. The distress of British farmers is quite understandable. It must, nevertheless, be pointed out that the farming that is responsible for the situation in which all European farmers now find themselves, or at least a large proportion of them, is a result of a farming policy that emphasises high productivity. Therefore, it is our responsibility today finally to radically modify the European Union’s farming policy. Moreover, we have assumed our responsibilities towards the WTO and is the European Union not in the same situation in relation to the United States that France is facing today in relation to the European Union? We cannot reject, on the one hand, the supposed legality of the WTO’s position on meat containing american hormones whilst, on the other, invoking the European in order to reject the precautionary principle that France is proposing. The Greens are asking the Commission for concrete and urgent proposals even if today, the experts have not yet given their verdict. Commissioner, you are familiar with the current situation, and you know that it has been going on for a long time. It is really crucial to put forward proposals in order to reassure European consumers as well as farmers."@en1

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