Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-278"
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"en.20051116.20.3-278"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by thanking the rapporteur, Mrs Scheele, for the cooperation in the drawing up of the report we are considering today, which was very fair, indeed positively agreeable, even though we were not of one mind on every issue. We did, though, eventually agree, and so I can say, quite simply, that there are many roads that lead to Rome.
This item on its order of business is characteristic of what makes the European Parliament peculiar. We are concerning ourselves with the transposition of an international agreement between Canada, the USA, Russia and the EU, even though this agreement was – as the rapporteur said – rejected in 1998. Only in the European Parliament can such a thing happen.
Speaking personally, I do not find this situation so problematic, having, at that time, voted in favour of the agreement or, to put it another way, against its rejection, because I was confident that the participating countries actually would maintain the standards required, and because I was keen that these countries’ indigenous peoples should not lose their livelihood and should be able to live from trading in skins and pelts.
That is certainly defensible on the grounds that trade was freed up, but something else that was achieved – and this was another reason why I voted in favour at the time – namely that cruel traps that tormented animals were banned, some of which, leghold traps, for example, were no more than instruments of torture. What made this achievement possible was years of pressure exerted by the European Parliament, by the Commission, and also by the animal welfare organisations.
The Commission directive that we have before us today contains all the measures of the agreement that facilitate trade, by which I mean primarily the import of animal skins and furs into the European Union. It is for this reason that we believe that its implementation would have an impact on the internal market and should therefore be subject to Article 95 as its legal basis. The fact that this is not the case is another reason for us to vote against this report.
Even though my amendments did not attract the support of a majority in this House, I should nonetheless like to bring them to the Commission’s attention. It may be that the time is not ripe for certain regulations. I proposed that these Commission proposals should find their way into a regulation calling on the Member States to transpose the agreement, and consequently committing them to all that it would entail – reporting and so on – as well. I regard this as the right approach.
I also agree with the rapporteur that we need to make improvements to the parameters and also require research, but this is not a task for the European Union, but rather for the Member States, where conditions vary so widely that due regard must be had to subsidiarity. That is why we have rejected the Commission proposal."@en1
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