Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-04-03-Speech-2-157"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-04-03"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Foot-and-mouth disease2
dcterms:Language	"de"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010403.8.2-157"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-04-03-Speech-2-1582
lpv:speaker	lp:Christel Fiebiger2
lpv:spokenAs	member; AGRI (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 member; Delegations to the parliamentary cooperation committees and delegations for relations with Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (1999-09-29--2002-01-14)3 member; EUL/NGL (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-09-29--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	". Mr President, the foot-and-mouth epidemic in Great Britain and its spread to mainland Europe clearly demonstrate that the disease apparently cannot be halted with the current strategy. I do not believe that we are out of the woods yet. Ever since the first case of foot-and-mouth disease, the Commission has supported the slaughter of lambs and the blazing pyres, and has been reluctant to approve other methods of tackling the disease which might have been agreed at national level. In my view, this is a major political risk, as the costs and benefits are very difficult to quantify. Putting our money on the economy from the outset would have been the right approach. A vaccination programme at the very start of the foot-and-mouth outbreak would have saved a great deal of money, but above all, it would have saved a great deal of personal suffering. It is estimated that around 200 million livestock are moved around the EU every year. Traceability in this commercial chain, especially in the necessary chronological order, is always problematical and uncertain. Even in normal years – without BSE and foot-and-mouth crises – the error rates are high. The common agricultural policy has its own powerful momentum, and it is difficult to halt it once it is under way. That is why it would have been necessary to identify a number of viable and practical alternatives to the current strategy to combat FMD. The present approach is mediocre and irrational – so I am delighted that it is to be changed. Beef consumption has decreased by 50 per cent. Prices have hit rock-bottom, and the monthly wages bill can no longer be covered from beef production. Commissioner Fischler's compensation programme is to be enhanced with an eighth point, namely the removal of the penalty bonus for the milk quota. This makes sense, as cattle sales have been stopped. Jobs and livelihoods in agriculture, food production and processing are at stake. There is no longer any rural tourism, even in areas which are free of FMD. Even relatives are staying at home. Patching this up through a "rural renewal" programme could take years. After all, cattle cannot be produced overnight. Vaccination must be utilised more effectively throughout Europe as a normal instrument to combat the disease. It must be ensured, in this context, that vaccinated animals and their products are commercially viable, in other words, that they can be marketed without any trade barriers. Discriminatory tests must be developed as a matter of urgency in order to allow vaccinated animals to be easily distinguished from infected stock. This should also make it easier for the Commission to give the Member States more scope than before to have their say in decisions on measures to prevent and eradicate the disease."@en1

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