European Parliament resolution on the statement of the European Commission on foot-and-mouth disease in the European Union
Date: 2001-04-05
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: export restriction, foot-and-mouth disease, live animal, plant health legislation, transport of animals, vaccination, veterinary inspection, veterinary legislation

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D. whereas the European Court of Justice has not yet ruled on the substance of those cases,

E. whereas, while it is indeed the responsibility of the Commission to bring actions against Member
States before the European Court of Justice in infringement proceedings, it is not for the Commission
to unilaterally set up the legal framework under which the actions are brought,

F. whereas the adoption of the rules governing intra-EU investment should be left for Parliament and the

Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission,

G. whereas the communication itself is no longer updated to recent economic developments,

Notes that Member States are opening up their markets to competition at differing speeds and that
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measures are needed to ensure that enterprises still benefiting from a monopoly situation on their national
markets do not unduly benefit from that situation when operating on liberalised markets in other Member
States, and that measures are needed to combat new monopoly situations in the internal market;

Is aware that it is the responsibility of the Commission to bring actions before the European Court of
2.
Justice against Member States which breach the Treaty, but points out that the Commission should not
unilaterally set up the legal framework under which actions are brought; insists that rules governing intra-
EU investment should be adopted by Parliament and the Council, on the basis of a proposal from the
Commission;

3.
Calls on the Commission to cease using the abovementioned communication as the basis for its
infringement procedures and immediately to propose a directive to replace the abovementioned communi-
cation;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the govern-

4.
ments of the Member States.

12. Foot-and-mouth disease

B5-0304, 0305, 0306, 0307, 0308 and 0309/2001

European Parliament resolution on the statement of the European Commission on foot-and-mouth
disease in the European Union

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the policy of non-vaccination since 1991, as introduced by Council Directive 92/
119/EEC and Council Directive 85/511/EEC, as amended by Directive 90/423/EEC, on Community
measures for the control of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD),

(cid:129) having regard to Commission decisions following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK
on 20 February 2001 (2001/145/EC, 2001/172/EC, 2001/190/EC, 2001/208/EC, 2001/223/EC),

(cid:129) having regard to the report (cid:145)Strategy for emergency vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease(cid:146),
adopted on 10 March 1999 by the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare,

A. whereas the rapid spread of foot-and-mouth disease has had disastrous effects on rural economies and

entire rural regions, affecting farming, processing, trade and tourism,

B. whereas there are problems relating to the current non-vaccination policy and whereas the destruction

of healthy animals seriously compromises animal welfare,

C. whereas there are alternatives to the non-vaccination policy which have been successfully applied in

certain European states before 1991 and which are still applied in third countries,

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D. whereas in the current vaccination situation a general vaccination is not possible,

E. whereas the EU export markets for pork and beef reduced dramatically due to the recent BSE and

foot-and-mouth disease crisis,

F. whereas the origin of the epidemic in the United Kingdom is believed to be in smuggled meat used in

a restaurant providing swill to a pig farm,

G. whereas repeated animal health crises should be managed in a sustainable budgetary way,

H. whereas live animal transport within and between Member States and third countries have facilitated

the spread of foot-and-mouth disease,

Calls on the Commission to review immediately the basic non-vaccination policy of the European
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Union and urges the Commission to bring forward possible alternatives which can be accepted worldwide,
permitting free trade in animal products;

Calls on the Commission and the Council to endorse the following points in their policy against foot-

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and-mouth disease:

(cid:129) to allow the use of protective emergency vaccination (ring vaccination) in a certain region with an
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at the request of a Member State, with the ultimate aim of eradi-
cating the foot-and-mouth disease virus from the EU(cid:146)s territory;

(cid:129) to allow temporary emergency vaccination in a region free of foot-and-mouth disease, as a (cid:145)buffer(cid:146) to a

region or Member State with recorded cases;

(cid:129) to allow vaccination of special breeds and foot-and-mouth disease susceptible animals in wildlife
reserves, petting zoos and zoos, provided that strict movement controls on these animals can be
maintained;

3.
Calls upon the Commission to carry out a clear registration of foot-and-mouth disease vaccinated
animals and to allow strictly controlled marketing and processing of these animals and their products
within that specific region;

4.
Calls on the Commission to step up efforts to develop a marker vaccine, as well as the NSP testing
technology, making it possible to differentiate between infection and vaccination, which does not necess-
arily have to lead to culling healthy animals in case of disease;

5.
Urges the EU(cid:146)s trading partners to adopt a regionalised policy which allows the countries and regions
not affected by foot-and-mouth disease to continue exporting and calls on the Commission to start negoti-
ations with these trading partners immediately;

Urges the Commission to consider a proposal for registration of the sources, uses and treatment of

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swill in order to prevent untreated or insufficiently sterilised swill being used in animal feed;

Calls on the Commission to participate with Member States to put in place a compensation package

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for food, phytosanitary or veterinary crises and seriously affected branches of trade and tourism;

Urges the Member States to step up controls from a veterinary point of view on goods, passengers

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and luggage entering the EU and to maintain these controls on a permanent basis;

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Calls on the Commission and the Council to set strict limits and, where necessary, impose strict bans
on transport of live animals and animal products throughout the EU in order to prevent further spread of
the disease and to devise a common strategy for an overall reduction of animal transport in the future;

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Calls on the Member States to increase health inspection to stop animal products entering the EU

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food chain from countries and regions where foot-and-mouth disease is present;

Asks the Commission to prepare a study and report to the European Parliament and the Council
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regarding the steps necessary to minimise the risk of foot-and-mouth disease in the European Union and
the best means of dealing with any infection which occurs in the future;

12.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council.

13. Stockholm European Council: Financial markets

B5-0244/2001

European Parliament resolution on the Stockholm European Council on 23/24 March 2001

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the final report of the Committee of Wise Men on the regulation of European

securities markets and its previous resolution on the subject,

(cid:129) having regard to the European Council resolution on more effective securities market regulation in the

European Union,

Shares the objective of achieving a single European securities market by the end of 2003 thanks to a

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more efficient decision-making process among the three main institutions;

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Takes note of the European Council(cid:146)s resolution as a useful agreement between two of the three
institutions needed to allow this process to move forward, and looks forward to securing an early agree-
ment with the Council and the Commission on the mechanism for safeguarding democratic procedures
and transparency, including the European Parliament(cid:146)s access to all documents circulated to the proposed
Securities and Regulators Committees and a three-month period for the Parliament to consider draft imple-
menting measures submitted to the Securities Committee;

Considers, however, that in order to safeguard the institutional balance and to guarantee democratic
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control over implementing measures the Commission should commit itself, in a code of conduct or a
similar binding mechanism, not to go against a resolution of the European Parliament that the draft
implementing measures submitted to the Securities Committee exceed the implementing measures pro-
vided for in the framework legislation, or have not been prepared in accordance with the requirements
of transparency and consultation, and to submit amended measures or a legislative proposal under the
codecision procedure;

4. Welcomes the open and full review of the regulatory structures to take place in 2004, and notes that
the European Parliament should have the possibility to renew the powers of the Commission and the
Securities Committee to adopt implementing measures; demands that the introduction of a binding call-
back mechanism be included on the agenda of the intergovernmental conference to be convened in 2004,

Emphasises that, pending this review, the European Parliament will guarantee effective democratic
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control over securities legislation by using to the full its codecision powers, by ensuring through amend-
ments that all essential elements are included in the legislative proposal, and by being particularly vigilant
on implementing measures that could exceed the scope of implementing powers provided for in the basic
legislation; affirms that Parliament will also be an active participant in the proposed monitoring commit-
tee;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Heads of State

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and government of the Member States and the Forum of European Securities Commission.