Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-22-Speech-1-077"
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"en.20071022.14.1-077"2
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"Mr President, we shall be debating a really difficult but important issue today.
The changes to data protection rules will lead to greater transparency and fairer competition without hindering research and innovation.
The proposed regulation is one of the keys to the Commission’s overall strategy in the pesticides sector. It complements the proposal for a directive on the sustainable use of pesticides, which has already been analysed by my colleague, Mr Dimas.
Finally, let me to mention the large number of amendments which have been tabled. This is hardly surprising for such a complex subject and perhaps we have not yet reached complete agreement in our views. I am optimistic that we will shortly be able to do so the next stages of the procedure. Meanwhile, the Commission can accept certain amendments while rejecting others. The complete list, with the Commission’s view on each amendment and the relevant explanation, is available to Parliament and MEPs. It is not for me to analyse every amendment separately here because there is certainly not enough time. I ask for this list to be included in the Minutes of the sitting.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to a constructive and interesting debate.
let me first of all thank all those who have worked to make this debate possible today, and especially the rapporteur, Mrs Breyer.
The subject has always been difficult. A balance needs to be struck. Protection of health and the environment need to be increased, while procedures are simplified and administrative costs are reduced to allow for greater competitiveness and innovation. I am convinced that the Commission’s proposal will help achieve these two goals, for it supplements the internal market. It does this by setting up a system of flexible mutual recognition of zones, and allowing Member States to take measures and to adopt restrictions, in cases of special health or environmental hazards, whether in throughout a Member State or in parts of it.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a fact that plant protection products play an important role in agriculture, crop growing, silviculture and market gardening. I wish we did not need them, because they certainly affect human and animal health, and the environment. We must therefore ensure that the relevant rules are effective and balanced.
The legislation in force dates from 1991. On the basis of a 2001 report by the Commission on the legislation’s function and where it can be improved, both the European Parliament and the Council asked the Commission to put forward proposals for the amendment to the directive. I daresay nobody doubts the need for the existing legislation to be updated.
Allow me to thank the interested bodies in all sectors and mention the vital contribution they have made in the framework of this proposal’s preliminary draft . The Commission has also carried out a comprehensive impact assessment.
The first priority is indisputably to achieve the highest possible level of protection for human and animal health, as well as for the environment. This will be achieved through a number of provisions: establishing clear, strict criteria for the approval of active substances; giving a central role to the European Food Safety Authority in the assessment of active substances; and obliging farmers to maintain files on the use of plant protection products, to be made available on request to their neighbours and the water industry. The Member States’ authorities will also have to intensify checks on the commercial exploitation and use of plant protection products, and the Commission will examine and verify how effectively Member States are carrying out these checks. Further experiments on animals will be banned outright. So as to promote sustainable agriculture, the safest alternative solutions will replace the most hazardous products. The proposal will thus create a safer framework for the use of plant protection products in the EU and will reinforce measures to protect the environment.
The proposal does the same as the Lisbon Strategy because it will also reduce administrative costs. The procedure will be shorter and more efficient, while, more importantly I believe, preserving levels of safety and protecting the health of the environment.
The Member States will no longer be working in isolation because mutually recognising approvals will now be the rule, rather the exception. This will avoid dividing the internal market over plant protection products and stop splitting the market over agricultural products."@en1
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