Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-04-Speech-1-165"
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"en.20090504.21.1-165"2
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Madam President, Commissioner, you will appreciate that I am extremely pleased that we are able to vote on this dossier at the last minute, as many citizens, as well as Parliament, have been calling for measures to combat the cruel practice of commercial seal hunting for many years.
It was not easy to find the right approach, as Europe itself does not have the competence to ban this hunting. Therefore, I am obliged to the Commission for presenting a proposal to Parliament, although Parliament did think that the proposal needed tightening up.
As draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, I am much obliged to my colleagues from the various political groups, therefore, for immediately supporting my proposal to opt for a total trade ban on seal products with only one exception: the hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit communities. In doing so, the committee decided against the Commission’s original proposal, which made several exceptions, and also against a labelling scheme, which we believe would prove impossible to monitor.
I should also like to thank the Czech Presidency for continuing to work towards an agreement. I can imagine that the relevant negotiations with the Member States were not always plain sailing. As well as my fellow MEPs, I should like to thank the various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that played a constructive role as pressure groups right through the process and that now also expressly support the compromise. Compromises are always a matter of give and take, of course, yet I believe that this text meets the requirements of all the parties concerned.
Finally, I should like to emphasise, for the sake of our citizens, that the compromise will indeed have an impact on commercial hunting in countries such as Canada. In anticipation of a possible trade ban, the demand for seal fur skins has already fallen this year and the price has halved compared to last year. As soon as the ban is introduced, therefore, it will undoubtedly deal a severe blow to this hunting and to the international trade in seal products.
Therefore, I am delighted with the result, and hope for strong support from my fellow Members in tomorrow’s vote."@en1
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