Wednesday, 10 July 2002

Plans to reform the Common Agricultural Policy must not be held up by bickering between member states, South West MEP Graham Watson said today.  Mr Watson welcomed the reform plans which he said were overdue.

“Reforms are essential for successful enlargement of the EU with all the benefits that that will bring.

“There will be both winners and losers but member states must grapple with reform of the CAP.  They have held up reform for too long and this must no longer be allowed to happen,” said Mr Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament.

The reform plans unveiled today by Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler will remove the link between production and subsidy and make aid dependent on observing environmental and food safety laws.

Some countries, particularly France, are expected to fight the proposals.

The CAP was originally created so that Europe would be self-sufficient in food and to provide farmers with a reasonable standard of living but costs have risen and CAP expenditure takes about one half of the EU budget.

Wednesday, 3 July 2002

By bowing to narrow national interests, European governments of left and right are placing enlargement in jeopardy, ELDR leader Graham Watson argued today. Squabbling by Member States over the financing of enlargement and reform of the common agricultural policy overshadowed the Spanish Presidency and delayed any deal until November.

Speaking in a European Parliament debate on the work programme of the Danish Presidency, Graham Watson said:

"We appeal to Blair and Schröder on the left, and to Aznar, Berlusconi and Chirac on the right, to pause for a moment and ponder - what picture will Europe project to the world if you squabble like Roman soldiers under the cross, over a fraction of one per cent of GDP?"

"While we strongly support reform of the common agricultural and fisheries policies, this must not be a precondition for enlargement. Let nobody assume that in our eagerness to  secure the prize of enlargement, we will allow reform to fall by the wayside. But neither will we be held to ransom by the practice which allows the European Union's agenda to be dictated by the timetable of national elections."

Wednesday, 3 July 2002

South West Euro MP Graham Watson has welcomed today’s vote by MEPs in Strasbourg backing stricter controls on labelling of food containing genetically modified ingredients.

Mr Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, said: “I am pleased that MEPs have voted through a sensible package of measures which will give consumers maximum information about the food they are going to eat but one that does not put non-GM food producers at a disadvantage by obliging them to label their products as being GM-free.  This will allow consumers to make up their own minds without being given so much information that shopping trips become a nightmare.”

The threshold for food containing GM material that has to be labelled is  0.5%, or lower if scientifically acceptable.  Also voted through were: labelling of animal feed bought by farmers containing GM ingredients; labelling of products containing GM ingredients even if they are not scientifically detectable, but are identified only through paper-chase traceabilility schemes (oils, sugars etc.).

There will be NO labelling of products (such as vegetarian cheese) made with GM enzymes or processing aids where there is no GM ingredient in the final product; NO labelling of products made from ingredients (milk, eggs, meat) derived from animals reared on GM feeds - this would have extended the extent of GM labelling to the point where it would be difficult to find anything which does not have a GM label – and would take away real consumer choice by making shopping too confusing; and NO unauthorised GMOs allowed onto the EU market which have not gone through the EU authorisation procedure.

Liberal Democrat MEPs held the balance on all the successful votes.

Tuesday, 2 July 2002

"Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar was playing Don José to Tony Blair's Carmen in a passionate but deadly delusion about using development aid as a weapon in the crackdown on illegal migrants", ELDR leader Graham Watson said today.

Speaking in a European Parliament debate on the outcome of the Seville European Council, Mr Watson welcomed the fact that despite the efforts of Mr Blair and Mr Aznar, the summit "elevated discussion beyond a search for cheap newspaper headlines and into the core of the challenge".

Mr Watson welcomed the shift in the Council's focus  away from suspending development aid for non-co-operation on illegal immigration, towards providing positive incentives to developing countries to co-operate in the management of migration flows. He called for EU leaders "to stop clogging up the decision-making process with national initiatives and to back Commission proposals", and urged the use of qualified majority voting in Council.

Concerning transparency, the ELDR leader criticised the Council for not going far enough: "We need to achieve real transparency by giving access to Council documents on the internet, from when they are first discussed by officials right up to Ministerial level. It is disgraceful that Council officials in the secretariat are refusing to make room documents and unnumbered documents publicly available."