Mr President, we are in exactly the same situation as we were six years ago. I believe that Mr Graefe zu Baringdorf is due to speak after me; that means that all of us who have basically concentrated on little else in our work over the last six years except BSE are back again. The European Parliament has been calling for much of what the agricultural ministers have now decided – half willingly, half unwillingly – for over six years now. Mr Byrne intimated as much. What was done then about removing risk material? All the Member States tried to obstruct and block for as long as possible. If, Mr Byrne, as you now say, the question of removing the vertebral column is a problem, then they are again dragging their feet. What is the matter with them? For the moment we must consider the vertebral column to be risk material, in all Member States. It must be removed, it must be removed in the abattoir and it must be treated as risk material. And there is an end to it. Not here a little loophole, there a little loophole! I have learned in my eleven years in the European Parliament that progress here moves at a snail's pace. It is a fact of life. We have moved forward at a snail's pace. That is fine as long as we move forward. I have nothing against that, but I would like to move a wee bit faster here, because now is our chance: we are surrounded in the Member States by jittery meat markets and, as a result, we have got jittery agricultural ministers, jittery finance ministers – everyone has got the jitters. Unfortunately, it is also affecting farmers and the meat processing industry and the feedingstuffs industry, which I always mention in the same breath as everyone who did not exactly go out of their way to do anything about improving quality in the past. So if we look at these compliant meat markets and see that here is our chance, the chance to push measures forward, then we must decide exactly what sort of measures we need. They obviously include, as you have just said Mr Byrne, extending the definition of risk material, so that we can, at long last, ban all mechanically recovered meat. Of course, we could have done this years ago, but it must all be banned, not just a bit from the skull and a bit from the vertebral column like last time. We must get rid of it all; we no longer need it in an affluent society like ours, that is obvious. What else do we need to do? We need to do the same with animal fats. We cannot differentiate between animal fats or gelatine on the basis, for example, of whether or not they reach the human food chain or whether or not they are used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. That is out of the question. Fats must be sterilised by pressure cooking. End of story! No other method should be allowed now. We must minimise the risks, that is obvious. You said something quite wonderful, Mr Byrne and I should like to pick up on it. How do we handle derogations in the Member States for the vertebral column, fats and so on? What do we do about the Member States which are BSE-free? That is when I lean back in my chair and think to myself: here we go again. I have heard it all before in recent years. Exactly which Member State is BSE-free? And may I ask: how do they know? Do they look inside the animals' head? And if they can do that, perhaps they can tell us exactly what is going on. We too want to do likewise. Until such time as the Member States introduce comprehensive testing, and we know how slipshod testing can be, until such time as everything is tested comprehensively, including – and I agree with Mr Böge here – the animals taken from the market, then we shall never have a complete picture; until such time as there is comprehensive testing, we shall not know if Finland, Germany, Austria or Italy are BSE-free. And until we have that information, we shall treat all Member States the same, end of story. Then we shall see which Member States block everything again and we shall publicise the fact. I wonder just which Member States think they can hold out now. There is no time left to address all the points, but I must, nonetheless, touch on what has been my favourite subject for a long time: we can pass the best legislation here in the European Union, but what use is it if it is not controlled in the Member States? I believe that there are too few veterinarians in all the Member States, too few food inspectors, too few on-site inspections. Which is why I call on you, Mr Byrne, to force the Member States to report to you on how many veterinarians they have, how many food inspectors they have, when and what they control and what they have done in the past. I welcome and thank you for your monthly reports! (Applause)

Political group: PSE