Mr President, Commissioner, representatives of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I must thank my colleagues and the Secretariat of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, and the officers responsible in the Directorate General in charge of this matter, for their very good cooperation. It was following essential work in partnership with the different political groups and the representatives of the Commission and the Council that we arrived at this text, which will be put to the vote tomorrow. This is a report that we can be satisfied with, as it places consumer protection at the heart of our concerns. By considerably reducing levels of cyclamate in drinks following an evaluation by the Scientific Committee we are responding well to the demands of European citizens in terms of consumer protection. The Commission undertaking to re-evaluate all sweeteners in the near future is also a decision that is in line with our objectives, as we are aware that we need consistent statistics and that we need to regularly re-examine our positions in the light of the new data. I understand my fellow Members in the Group of the who wish to place particular emphasis on aspartame. However, in this respect we need to take into account the recent evaluations that have taken place both in France and the United Kingdom, and consider that perhaps there is no reason for singling out aspartame, as we know, of course, that it is going to be evaluated on a more global level anyway. Now we need to realise that we also have our weaknesses, and the fact that we were not able to reach an agreement on the subject of defining fine bakers’ wares shows that our work is not quite finished and that labelling will have to be the subject of future legislation. This element of the report also demonstrates the position that we intend to give sweeteners in food. They are essential for treating certain diseases and on this subject, I have received many letters from people suffering from diabetes and other illnesses, saying how pleased they were to be able to vary their diet thanks to an increasing number of products containing sweeteners. There is also a risk that they will be increasingly consumed by Europeans if we consider the many alarming reports of a constantly increasingly number of people suffering from obesity. However, this serious public health problem should not be solved by sweeteners but by preventing the disease. Moreover, some studies have shown that the power of sweeteners led to nutritional behaviour involving an increase in the consumption of sugar or sweet products. We are all aware here that the multitude of increasingly sweet and increasingly varied products aimed at children is not an insignificant factor in this public health problem. In saying this, I am not moving away from the subject that we are dealing with this evening, because sweet products, whether or not they contain sweeteners, are interdependent. I know that the Commissioner is particularly aware of this public health problem. He can be assured that it is a priority for us. In conclusion, I will say that we can consider sweeteners as useful, which is why, through this legislation, we are authorising two new products to be placed on the market. However, we now need to ensure that they are only essential to an increasingly restricted number of European citizens.

Political group: PSE