Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-13-Speech-2-562-000"
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"en.20111213.34.2-562-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank everyone involved in the negotiations. At times, the negotiations were rather amusing. It could be considered strange that we have spent so many hours on such a limited subject as fruit juices, but at the same time, it was question of rather important principles. Should we maintain the EU’s high standard, where one exists, as opposed to the standard incorporated into international agreements? If we are to have a properly functioning single market, we must stop deceiving consumers.
During the negotiations, I brought these juice cartons with me and I am still bringing them with me right to the bitter end. Here is one example of juice packaging: high quality, full of lovely cranberries. The problem is that cranberries are not the main ingredient of the juice – it is apple. However, I do not see apple mentioned on the packaging or in the name. This is a product from France.
Here I have a product from Sweden/Finland. It is called raspberry/blueberry and there are raspberries and blueberries on the packaging. Hidden behind an enormous blueberry there is a very tiny apple. This is misleading, because this juice consists mostly of apple – it contains 10 times as much apple as raspberry and blueberry. Here is another fruit drink that is also sold on the European market. It has lovely strawberries and passion fruit on the packaging, but what do you think is the dominant fruit? It is apple, of course.
Here is another one that is sold in six other countries in Europe. It states strawberry here, but do you think it contains any strawberries? Yes, it contains a very small amount of strawberries, but as usual it is mostly apple, and the apple on this packaging is hidden behind a symbol so that you can barely see it. This is misleading and fraudulent, and we are at last doing something about it. This is what I have been fighting for, and I am very pleased that this was the end result.
Then we also have another issue relating to how the product is labelled, in other words, what is said about the product. To start with, there was a certain amount of confusion with regard to the question of no added sugar, but in the end, I think we resolved it with a good compromise. For a short transitional period, consumers will be informed of the new rule that ordinary real juice must not contain added sugar. Then we will stop the use of this labelling, as it goes against the logic of the single market.
It is normally the case that if there is a legal requirement for something, you must not highlight that property. If it is a legal requirement for there to be no added sugar, then this should not be stated on the packaging. I can accept it for a transitional period, however. Together with the Commission, we have also decided that it should not be permitted to start stating ‘no added sugar’ when the product contains sweetener.
In the end, then, we achieved a result that we in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance are able to support. I would like to thank everyone for the many long negotiations. We also had very interesting discussions and, in the end, we achieved a result that we can present to consumers. They will then be able to buy juice and know what they are getting – if they want to choose cheap artificial juice, they will know every time that it is cheap artificial juice, and if they want to choose real juice, they will know that that is what they are getting. That is what is important."@en1
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