Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-25-Speech-3-057"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001025.2.3-057"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – First of all I would like to express my thanks to the many Members who have contributed to this report. As you are aware, the Commission attaches the highest priority to its strategy on food safety. I must give special thanks to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy and its rapporteur, John Bowis, for producing this opinion with such a degree of consensus and pay particular tribute to him and to the other Members of this House who have taken the time to discuss these issues with me and with my officials. The consequence is that we have achieved this excellent measure of consensus which is yet another notable example of the cooperation that can exist between our two great institutions.
The Commission's White Paper on food safety sets out a major and ambitious programme of legislative reforms to complete the EU's farm to table policy. Taken together with our proposals to establish a European Food Safety Agency, the programme will make a major contribution to the health protection of our citizens as well as to the restoration and maintenance of consumer confidence in food safety. European consumers have every right to expect the highest achievable food safety standards and our ambition is to develop systems that deliver this.
A food safety chain from farm to fork, correctly regulated and effectively controlled, is the road to building high levels of confidence in the European food supply. In this respect the Commission is already hard at work on its programme of legislative reform set out in the White Paper. Several proposals are already before the Council and Parliament: for example, the package of proposals recasting and updating the hygiene legislation. As an aside, I can say of the speakers who referred to the need for sensitivity in relation to the promotion of local food specialities and traditional foods that this issue is addressed in the hygiene legislation.
We are also working on a number of major reforms in the systems of control implemented by the competent authorities in the Member States and at Community level. In this regard, the Commission will adopt proposals for a revised control regime in the period ahead. The White Paper reiterates the Commission's commitment to basing its proposals for consumer health protection measures on sound science. Indeed, the food authority is conceived as a point of scientific excellence at the service of the Community in its broadest sense: consumers, the institutions and Member States alike.
The food authority will also need to be visible to the general public and be the authoritative voice in matters relating to the scientific aspects of food safety in Europe. The Commission intends to adopt a proposal for a regulation establishing the overarching principles and objectives of food law, which will provide the framework for future health protection measures relating to food. This proposal will put forward the establishment of a European Food Safety Agency which will provide the Community with advice on scientific and technical issues and thereby enable the Commission to give effect to the general principles of food law. Our intention is to adopt this proposal in the Commission on 8 November 2000.
This schedule continues to reflect the importance the Commission attaches to the matter and is broadly in line with the timescale set out in the White Paper which envisages that the establishing legislation will be enacted in 2001, leading to the establishment of the food authority in 2002. I only wish we could do better in terms of time. I know, Mr President, that you share my views in this regard. I look forward to the fullest support from Parliament in dealing with this most important piece of legislation in the shortest possible timeframe.
I have followed Parliament's debate on the White Paper with great interest. I am encouraged to note the high degree of agreement between Parliament's views as expressed in the draft report that you have debated, and the White Paper itself. This will facilitate the Commission's task in bringing forward a balanced proposal that takes maximum account of the views of Parliament and the many stakeholders in the area of food safety.
You will appreciate that I cannot promise to take on board all your views, but my record before this Parliament will demonstrate that I will do my utmost. I have previously acknowledged in Parliament and other forums what I regard as an important issue for the fullest acceptance of our ideas for a food authority: the role and involvement of Parliament itself in enacting the legislation establishing the food authority. I would like to put it on the record today that I remain committed to Parliament having a full codecision role in the enactment of this legislation. It is right and proper and I support Parliament's desire to see Articles 95 and 152 of the Treaty employed to this effect.
In conclusion, I would like to express my appreciation to you, Mr President, your rapporteur, Mr Bowis, the shadow rapporteurs, the Committee on the Environment and the other committees who have contributed, and the House as a whole for bringing to a close this chapter in our collective endeavours towards improving Europe's food safety regime."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples