Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-11-Speech-1-094"

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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I greatly welcome the fact that the Council and the Commission are holding this debate today. In my view, some progress has already been made in the past. After all, we have been discussing this issue for a long time, and have addressed problems of animal husbandry, animal breeding and animal welfare on numerous occasions. If we examine the process regarding the cage-rearing of hens, for example, we – Parliament and the European Union – have already made significant progress. If I look at consumer behaviour following the debates in recent years, I can already see a change. Nonetheless, I would caution against taking the Commissioner's statement – that 85% of consumers are prepared to pay more for food produced in accordance with the highest standards of animal welfare – at face value. This figure is wrong. If I asked any member of the public: 'Would you be prepared to pay more for animal welfare?', naturally he is going to say: 'Of course I would!' However, when he is at the counter buying his steak, he has a rather different view. Then it is quality and price that count, and nothing else matters. Nonetheless, we must try to reconcile the status of animals as a means of production – we have to accept this, it is a fact – and animal welfare concerns. There is no point in lashing out at the food producers and blaming them for everything. The only way forward is to do what the Council has suggested – I think this is very important – namely to concentrate on raising public awareness and fostering sensitivity to animal welfare issues. This is a very important point. This brings us to issues of education and training within the family. In other words, a very wide sphere of activity must be included. As regards animal health – an issue which has also been raised today – I am a little doubtful. A healthy animal is not always one which has been reared correctly in optimal animal welfare conditions. Animals can be healthy even without these conditions, as we know from practical experience. I wish this House every success in the next few days, also in debating the new directive on the agenda. I hope that this will take us a further step towards better animal welfare in Europe."@en1

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