Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-047"
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"en.20021217.1.2-047"2
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". – Mr President, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to respond to this valuable and important debate on this report. A number of issues have been raised by many speakers which I ought to address – even if only briefly at this stage.
Firstly, on the question of control of imports, many – if not all – of you have addressed this important issue. It is of critical importance to ensure that not only is there legislation in place to deal with this kind of issue but also that the controls are in place to ensure that the legislation is properly implemented. It is the job of the Commission to bring forward legislation on the control of imports. It is, however, for the control authorities in the Member States to ensure that legislation is fully and properly implemented and not, as Mr Santini suggested, a function of the Commission to ensure that controls are in place. We must ensure that we identify who is responsible for what, so that we can clearly indicate to those who have the responsibility that they must exercise those functions properly.
With regard to legislation, since 1972 we have legislation in place at EU level in respect of imports of commercial products. It is illegal to import goods in contravention of that legislation. More recently, we have put in place legislation on personal imports, which will be operational from 1 January 2003. I, like you, call on Member States to ensure that their control authorities make sure that these pieces of legislation are properly and fully implemented. This issue is also addressed in the hygiene regulations before Parliament at the moment. Therefore, cooperation of all parties in this is of critical importance in trying to ensure that another outbreak does not happen in the future.
The second issue that was raised with some passion is vaccination. I noted what Mr Whitehead said about the past constantly changing. However, in this instance there is one point that I have had to address on many occasions. It was again raised by Mrs Corbey and Mr Graefe zu Baringdorf. It is the function of the Commission in the application of vaccinations. Two Member States out of the four that had the outbreak of foot and mouth disease sought permission from the Commission to administer emergency vaccination. That permission was granted – there is no doubt about that. One of those two Member States did not apply it all, the other did, but then decided that the animals that were vaccinated should be killed. They had permission from the Commission to vaccinate and keep the animals alive. However, for reasons associated with trade considerations – they are not irrelevant and I do not criticise them – that Member State decided to vaccinate and then cull those animals. Any of the Member States involved could have applied vaccinations of their own volition, based on their own legislation, without any need for permission from the Commission.
At this stage, I should like to clarify that issue, rather than to leave in the minds of some people that there may have been some fault on the part of the Commission in failing or in refusing to allow Member States to respond to this outbreak by using vaccination and leaving animals alive. That did not happen, although it could have been done because the Commission authorised this in
clear terms. I repeat that one of the Member States involved decided not to use vaccination at all and the other decided to use vaccination but nonetheless – for trade considerations – went ahead and culled the cattle involved, even in circumstances where it could have allowed those animals to remain alive.
I am very happy that a number of speakers praised the work of the Commission. I am sure that the people who work with me, my collaborators who are here, take pleasure in that also. They have worked very hard on this. I am very pleased that the two institutions have worked so well together in this instance, as Mr Jonathan Evans said. We have tried to ensure that what we do here at European Union level – whether in Parliament or in the Commission – has relevance for people. In this instance, the debate and the report have been of relevance to citizens of the European Union. I also hope that the legislation that will be published tomorrow will respond not just to the needs and desires of Parliament, but also the needs, desires and the wishes of ordinary citizens of the European Union. You will see many of the issues you have raised in your report echoed in our legislation which will be published tomorrow, because we have worked closely together on your report and in the drafting of the legislation.
One further piece of legislation to be published tomorrow governs the individual identification and traceability of sheep. That will also contribute to providing some kind of security against an outbreak of this type in the future.
Finally, I congratulate Mrs Redondo Jiménez for chairing this committee and Mr Kreissl-Dörfler for the excellent work he has undertaken and for the cooperation that he and his people offered not only to myself but also my officials. This is a clear example of the two institutions working very well and effectively together for the benefit of the citizens of the European Union."@en1
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