Mr President, Commissioner, it is crucial for all of us that we can guarantee the safety and quality of our food. To this end, the French government has established the French food safety agency in order to make a better scientific assessment of the risks from food. It was thought to be essential that France should have an authority which will enable it to make decisions on a rigorous, scientific basis, completely independent from any outside power. Just imagine the things that people would have said if the government had not taken the scientists’ advice when their conclusions were negative! Nevertheless, we must not allow psychosis to take hold. It is also quite unacceptable to stigmatise the British farmers who have suffered a great deal and who have made Herculean efforts. We cannot ignore their desperate plight. On the other hand, nobody will come out of a trade war unscathed, least of all the European Union. Let us not give anyone a stick with which to beat us, and let us not play into the hands of the anti-Europeans who are shamelessly exploiting the situation. Those people who do not want Europe are making shameless use of any pretext to set the public against Europe. It is so easy to use emotion, but let us not forget that it is entirely thanks to Europe that we are able to have a free market and actually trade our products. If the European Union did not exist, today, whenever we are confronted with a problem, our borders would close and that would be that! We would not be here holding a debate today. The European Scientific Steering Committee must express its views on the relevance of the French arguments because, on Monday, the ad hoc group, which gathers together European prion disease specialists, was not able to reach a unanimous conclusion and passed the results of its study to the European Scientific Committee. This committee must take a decision, and we are all waiting to hear the opinion of the Commission, which must take responsibility. It will take responsibility, and we feel sure that it will do so in a way that will not affect high standards of protection. It was scientists’ recommendations that triggered the crisis, and scientists will be the ones to get us out of the crisis. We now have the opportunity to make use of a test which will allow us to screen incubating animals. We will have to see if it is possible to set this up quickly, because although there is no such thing as zero risk in food safety, it is our duty to make use of all possible means to reassure our citizens that everything has been done to prevent mistakes, particularly where food is concerned. The Commission could propose complementary measures which would allow us to feel completely reassured. I would like to add that, of course, everyone should keep their own house in order, and that includes France. All those who have led our countries into mad agricultural practises must be roundly condemned. It is quite easy to see today that the race for profits leads to appalling events and terrible paradoxes. At a time when manufacturers have had no misgivings about turning ruminants into carnivores, there is still hunger in the world. Scientists make their recommendations and politicians make their choices, which are not always easy to make. The problem is really one of knowing to what extent we can take on a risk when one exists. This is exactly why the precautionary principle has been developed. We will only come out of this crisis by working together, and we will come out on top, because we cannot allow our credibility to be damaged. All our consumers want to know what they are eating, and they want to be sure that they can trust us.

Political group: PSE