Mr President, Commissioner, it is now a year since the Temporary Committee on Foot and Mouth Disease began its investigations in order to provide solutions and make proposals for the future in relation to this problem which, as well as causing serious economic damage to the European cattle sector, caused significant moral damage to all cattle breeders and had a great impact on society in general. We all remember the great number of animals which had to be culled following the outbreak last year which seriously affected the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. And the main task of this committee was to prevent situations such as that caused by this disease from reoccurring in Europe. During this year of intense work, the committee has listened to the opinions of dozens of experts in all fields, from economic to veterinary, dealing with logistical and political aspects, Community and international legislation, as well as tangential aspects such as tourism, goods transport, emotional aspects, etc. Many of the people invited to the committee occupied very important posts during the management of the last outbreak of the disease. But the committee also gave the owners of farms affected and the local authorities and associations in these areas the opportunity to express their opinions during the various visits organised both to the United Kingdom and to the Netherlands. Furthermore, as chairperson of this committee, I have held several meetings on this disease, together with the rapporteur, Mr Kreissl-Dörfler, with experts and top officials from non-Community countries, such as Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The fruit of all this work is the report being presented today for the vote of this House. The report produced by Mr Kreissl-Dörfler has achieved a broad consensus amongst all the political groups and we hope that, in the same way, the other Members of this House will find sufficient points of agreement to approve it by a majority without substantial changes, with the approval of some of the amendments presented. One of the essential aspects included in the final report of the committee I chair is emergency vaccination, which is considered to be an essential method for controlling any future outbreak of the disease. The current policy of the European Union – to quell outbreaks of this disease by culling the cattle of the farms in which any infected animal has been detected and that of neighbouring farms where there is a likelihood of contagion – cannot continue in the current form. The policy of emergency vaccination must be part of a strategy which allows animals to live. The current policy of not vaccinating prioritises the political and commercial aspects and this is something that must change on an international level, taking the approach initiated by the International Office of Epizootic Diseases and the FAO. The future policy must also take account of the social and psychological impact of an epidemic of foot and mouth disease on the public and must not ignore the consequences it causes in all sectors, such as tourism, commerce, social aspects and emotional aspects. In its report, this temporary committee advocates emergency vaccination and not preventive vaccinations, since, ladies and gentlemen, these could be considered as a backwards step in the policy of eradication for the scientific, technical, economic and commercial reasons which both we and the Commissioner have expressed. Ladies and gentlemen, another of the most important aspects of the work of this committee relates to the control of imports. The European Parliament must insist on a policy on meat imports which imposes zero tolerance in order to guarantee that not a single kilogram of unexamined meat originating from a third country enters the European Union. This House should insist on this issue and must remind the Commission that it cannot ignore the problem of illegal imports. The great food crises are always based on non-compliances with Community legislation. Furthermore, I believe we must congratulate the Commission on having acted so quickly with the legislative proposals the Commissioner has just announced, with regard to control, identification, the quality of products and vaccinations. In the same way, the temporary committee is asking the Commission to draw up a global strategy for diseases and zoonosis in the European Union. For all these reasons, I would ask that the House give this report its majority support. I would especially like to congratulate the rapporteur, with whom I have found it so easy to work; all the members of the Temporary Committee on Foot and Mouth Disease, who have worked hard, and whose work and criticisms have been constructive; I would also like to congratulate in particular the secretariat for its rigour and for its bold work and our interpreters, without whom this committee would not have been able to carry out its work. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE