Strasbourg Diary April 2004 by John Purvis, MEP

WRAPPING UP THE JARGON
MEPs want to make sure consumers are not confused by new developments in `active’ and `intelligent’ food packaging. Active packaging interacts with food to improve quality and keep it fresher longer, while the intelligent variety gives information on the current condition of the food. Packaging can leave traces on the food it contains and so the European Parliament wants to set out conditions for products and materials coming into direct or indirect contact with food going on sale. The move is aimed at protecting consumer health and removing obstacles to trade within Europe. It will also create a legal framework for technological advances in food packaging, which is a major industry in itself. The information will be in the consumers’ own language - and possibly other EU languages. Makes me nostalgic for my boyhood when food packaging was nothing more than a grocer’s paper bag!

EURO-POWER TO THE PEOPLE
A recent article by John Blundell, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, suggested that MEPs are powerless to effect change. But such an assertion owes more to a lack of understanding of the workings of the European Union and European Parliament than experience of their work at first hand. There are many examples where change in Europe has been introduced at the behest of MEPs. Without MEPs’ pressure, there would probably have been no liberalisation of airlines and airways, with more routes opened up to more and more destinations by competing airlines, bringing travel into the reach of most pockets. Proposals to ban haggis and bagpipes have been headed off, and curved cucumbers and bananas are still available. Attempts to outlaw Edinburgh’s three-castle hallmark, the world famous symbol that has protected Scottish jewellers and their customers from plagiarists and fraudsters for over 500 years, have been defeated. The Parliament represents the balance of European public opinion. That is why it is so important that we all exercise our constitutional rights and vote in the elections to the European Parliament on June 10.

HORSES FOR COURSES
A threat to a UK ban on exporting live horses and ponies has fairly swelled my postbag. It prompted protests from people across Scotland, determined to ensure that horses will not suffer hundreds of miles of travel on their way to slaughter. The good news is that a group of MEPs, myself included, has successfully supported a clause in the European Commission’s animal transport proposals which had created the stir. The clause allows member states to opt out of this kind of trafficking and the UK will therefore be able to continue the ban if our government so decides. The amendment refers to the live export of `low value’ horses such as older, retired ponies and horses. Because they are destined for slaughter - and human consumption - their travelling conditions can be quite unacceptable. It is this potential misery which my constituents have been protesting about. At the same time, the proposals allow race horses and competition horses to be transported abroad for legitimate reasons, such as the Olympic Games.

Note to Editors: John Purvis is a member of the Committee on Industry, External Trade Research and Energy and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He can be contacted by e-mail at jpurvis@europarl.eu.int or visit his website on www.scottishtorymeps.org.uk.

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