Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-28-Speech-3-074"
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"en.20010228.5.3-074"2
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"Those of us from the UK know only too well what a devastating effect BSE can have on the agricultural community. I hope others can learn from our experiences and maybe our mistakes as well. I think the most important lesson is that there is a need to take stringent measures from the outset, firstly, to prevent further outbreaks and, secondly, to ensure that consumer confidence increases.
Unless safety measures are dramatically increased we cannot succeed in restoring consumer confidence, which is critical in the long term to European beef markets. In the UK now our markets and beef consumption have returned to 1995 levels. However, to restore confidence, we really need to be clearly targeting our aid and we must encourage Member States to vigorously take up this aid, which to my understanding has not always been the case.
I would just like to address the issue that various people such as Mr Mulder and Mrs Haug have raised, namely whether the aid should be the traditional 70/30 split between the EU and the Member States or whether we should go for a 50/50 split.
Now, whilst I sympathise with the reasons behind what has been outlined by Mr Mulder and Mrs Haug, and I appreciate their serious concern about the level of funding being sufficient for the unidentified needs for the remainder of the year, it would be extremely difficult for this Parliament to go down this route because, firstly, the financial regulations state that 70/30 is the agreed split and anything new would actually require a change in the financial regulations and, secondly, speaking as a UK Member, I want to see parity, with other Member States being dealt with in exactly the same way as the UK. So, if we want to ensure fair play, it is important that we have the same split.
Thirdly, if Parliament votes for this new approach the Council will have to have a second reading and this will only serve to prolong the process until a decision is reached, and this goes against our experience in the UK, which is that you must deal with things quickly and speedily to restore consumer confidence, which is vital to beef markets in Europe.
For these reasons I am against the rapporteur’s recommendation. I do not want to apportion blame about the crisis but I have similar concerns to those outlined by other Members about the approach and length of time it has taken the Commission to attempt to tackle BSE with rigour and determination. The Commission should have banned spinal cord from food and human consumption and animal feed once the disease was apparent in the UK. The Commission should be undertaking a full and immediate audit of control procedures to prevent contaminated cattle from crossing borders.
In conclusion I would like to say that I support the request for the SAB and I think it is important we get Member States to take up this aid."@en1
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