Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-25-Speech-3-468"
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"en.20091125.28.3-468"2
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"Madam President, the European Union imposes on Community producers the highest standards in the world in terms of food security, health, animal welfare and the environment. European stockbreeders are obliged to meet these standards as a prerequisite for receiving European Union support. For the vast majority, this support does not offset the increased burden, and farms are being abandoned at an alarming rate. This process will continue unless adequate measures are taken.
Let us, however, examine the issue more closely. The growing deficit in European production is naturally being covered by imports from third countries, mainly from Brazil. Given the pressure on Community stockbreeders, it would be totally dishonest to allow consignments of meat to enter the Community market if they failed to meet the minimum requirements agreed by the European Union with third countries.
I would also like to highlight the fact that these requirements are lower that those imposed on our own farmers, because it would seem that imposing exactly the same standards on third-country imports would go against World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. Given that the WTO prevents us from imposing the same standards on imports as we do on European stockbreeders, however, the Commission must, at the very least, guarantee that all meat that crosses Community borders comes from farms that have undergone adequate inspections. It would make no sense to block imports from countries like Brazil, since there is a Community demand which must be met. Nonetheless, this does not justify closing our eyes and looking the other way in the face of any irregularities that the European Union’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) might detect during its regular inspections.
I would like to know why the Commission is so keen to downplay these irregularities given that the FVO, on its last mission to Brazil, confirmed that some certification authorities do not meet the necessary inspection standards. The FVO also found huge flaws in the traceability system used by Brazil and detected problems with many consignments in transit to the European Union that did not have the necessary certificates.
In view of this information, how can it be guaranteed that the 1 500 Brazilian farms do fulfil the agreed requirements?"@en1
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