Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-011"
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"en.20021217.1.2-011"2
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"About a year ago Mr Sturdy put to me the idea of setting up a committee to investigate the recent foot and mouth disease crisis. I immediately agreed to the suggestion and am still happy that the lists of signatures that subsequently circulated in Parliament included the names of two members of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats and two members of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party. I continue to believe that it was a good initiative. Rarely in my career as an MEP have I experienced the degree of interest awakened throughout Europe by this committee. Wherever we went, in the United Kingdom or in the Netherlands, the interest was overwhelming, and to my mind it benefited the European Parliament itself.
I should also like to express my appreciation to Mrs Redondo as chairman, for her competent leadership, and to Mr Kreissl-Dörfler, who was an excellent spokesman for the committee’s work, not only in his report but also in his tactful contributions during the many meetings.
What have been the high points for the ELDR Group over the past year? Firstly: prevention is better than cure, and we strongly support the call for better border controls. If we compare the situation in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, etc… with that in Europe, we find that controls on the external borders of Europe are abominable. If I arrive at an airport there are scarcely any checks on my luggage, in complete contrast to the situation in other continents. I consider it essential that such measures should also be applied in Europe.
There has also been much discussion about whether or not to re-introduce prophylactic vaccination. I opposed this. None of the experts we consulted was in favour. Generally speaking, one cannot assume that a single vaccine exists that will offer protection against the hundred or so different foot and mouth disease strains that are found. It is therefore an illusion to think that there will never be another outbreak. I am, though, strongly in favour of emergency vaccination from the very beginning and at the same time of the consumption of the products of perfectly healthy animals locally or in the European Union. It is impossible to explain to the public why healthy animals should be destroyed and I am glad that the Commission has announced that it is to change policy on this matter.
As regards financing: the Commission has been a little parsimonious. Agenda 2000 assigns an annual amount of EUR 41 million for the combating of infectious animal diseases. The foot and mouth crisis cost almost a billion. We were fortunate in that the euro exchange rate was rather low and that there were surpluses in the agriculture budget, but that cannot of course continue indefinitely. It would therefore be good if the Commission were to reflect on insurance systems. And while we are talking about the Commission: we have heard appreciation from all sides for the Commission’s role in the foot and mouth crisis.
Having said this, I must mention a down side: even before the temporary committee was set up, the ELDR Group had submitted two amendments to the 2002 budget. One on research into marker vaccines and one on insurance systems, specifically to counter the competitive distortions in Europe, whereby farmers in one country have to pay for the outbreak of infectious animal diseases, and in another country they do not. As far as I know, not a single contract has yet been signed, despite the fact that today is 17 December and that I had pointed out to all the Commission services back at the beginning of the year that the budgetary authority had already given its approval. That is the only jarring note I have to sound in this speech."@en1
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