Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-26-Speech-3-136"
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"en.20030326.8.3-136"2
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"Mr President, the use of pesticides will remain a necessary evil for the time being. Large-scale agriculture depends on these substances for the production of crops. It is not for nothing that these substances are known as plant protection products in the agricultural sector. We have known for decades that these substances cause problems for human and animal health. Today I read yet another report about grapes on the shelves of cut-price shops containing vastly excessive levels of plant protection product residues. It is well known that water companies have fewer and fewer opportunities to obtain clean drinking water. It is therefore important to reduce the use of pesticides and encourage the use of organic alternatives.
I am in principle in favour of clear objectives and timetables for every Member State. These binding national programmes must, however, take the current situation and the national and regional action programmes into account. As some Member States have already taken far-reaching measures to reduce the use of, the risks from and dependency on pesticides, it is reasonable to anticipate this. It is over-simplistic to attempt to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% within a period of 10 years. It is better to try to achieve an equal level of use throughout the different Member States. In other words, it does not mean that every Member State will have to reduce its usage by 50% but it will depend on what a Member State has already achieved.
We should be aiming for harmonisation in the licensing of pesticides in order to prevent unfair competition, so the various pesticides should be evaluated more quickly. If we can achieve this harmonisation, a European tax on pesticides will no longer be necessary. The discussion on taxes will only result in delays in the Council, amongst other places. It is therefore better to leave the introduction of any taxes to the individual Member States.
Finally I would like to argue in favour of accepting some of the Amendments put forward by the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, particularly Nos 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9. In exchange for this, we can also expect wider support for the Van Brempt report, which that report deserves."@en1
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