Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-010"
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"en.20021217.1.2-010"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we have come together today having completed several months of work, hearings, visits on the ground, meetings with experts, farmers, with men and women, in fact, with all those who have had first-hand experience of the foot and mouth crisis, who have been deeply affected by it and, who above all, never want it to happen again. This was very much the aim of our work: understand what happened, analyse events from every angle – economic, social and psychological – in order to learn lessons from this and minimise the risks and the effects of this type of disease in the future.
Some would have liked the main aim of the temporary committee’s work to be to seek out the guilty party or parties, which is an understandable reaction when one is desperate and appalled by what one is going through. This, however, was not the specific aim of our committee or the reason why it had been set up. Can we accept the fact that, in a report that is intended to be the product of the most objective investigation possible, there are some very subjective elements and some irrational guesswork? I think not. The very credibility of our work as parliamentarians depends on this and that is why our group tabled a number of amendments designed to restore balance to the report. Apart from a few petty political digressions, we must acknowledge that our work has been very rewarding and worthwhile, the large number of direct contacts enabling us to gain a better understanding of the problems of managing the crisis and its countless consequences.
We must point out that the epidemic was a traumatic experience for tens of thousands of people, particularly because the memories that we may have of foot and mouth disease are of an epidemic which is undeniably serious, but not to the point of destroying entire regions and leading to the slaughter of millions of animals that individuals had put so much effort into feeding and caring. Having succumbed to new rearing methods and more movement of animals, we were unable to cope with this crisis and respond as we did 50 years ago when we isolated infected herds, since the number of infections was already too great by the time the epidemic was identified. Of course, with hindsight, we can always say ‘We should have done this or that’, but we must not forget that, at the time, we were facing a crisis and that solutions had to be found urgently in tandem with institutions, local communities and populations who were unprepared for this type of situation. Even experts believe that this crisis would have been of the same tragic proportions had it broken out in any other European country. The unfortunate experience of the United Kingdom has enabled other Member States to be more vigilant and better prepared to deal with the disease.
What do we do now? What decisions must the European Union take? The rapporteur, several of my fellow Members and the Commissioner have just explained. First of all, prevention is essential, and this prevention involves providing better information, on-going training of farmers – who were not always able to identify the disease early enough – animal traceability and more animal health professionals who can be called up more easily. Vigilance within Europe’s borders is essential, but we must also increase our controls on imports, both at land borders and at ports and airports. We are at the heart of global trade and people are travelling more and more, and so we must take into account this international dimension.
We must also provide solutions in a crisis by anticipating responses with more appropriate emergency plans, by encouraging emergency vaccinations wherever possible, whilst remembering that slaughter is the only possible outcome when livestock has been infected. The final comment I would add is that research is an area which we are entitled to expect to provide us with some results, on the condition that we provide it with the resources.
To sum up, I would like to reiterate, in the wake of the maritime disasters which have struck Europe once again, that our reports, whilst full of good intentions, are not worth a great deal if the European Union and the Member States do not shoulder their full responsibilities by swiftly implementing the recommendations that we make in this Chamber. We now await the report on which the Commission is currently working and hope that it will support the conclusions of our temporary committee.
Lastly, I would like to thank and to congratulate the rapporteur, the chairman, and all the Members who contributed to the report, as well as the committee and all the staff involved in this work."@en1
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