Text tabled : A7-0030/2011

  Vilja Savisaar-Toomast (ALDE), in writing. – (ET) In today’s vote, we saw support for the report on agriculture and international trade, which dealt, to a large extent, with imports of genetically modified foods and feeds into Europe. I am very pleased that there was also support for the point calling on the Commission to resolutely protect EU regulations concerning the approval and marketing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) against the demands being made in the WTO. Essentially, this means that the use of GMOs will remain strictly regulated, and this will improve food safety as well as the situation of our farmers. There was also support for a number of points concerning taxes on imports of various groups of agricultural products, as well as quality requirements on these products.

In addition to GMO-related issues, general issues of food safety were also discussed. For example, Brazil has thus far not managed to consistently meet EU producer and consumer standards on food safety, animal identification and traceability, animal health and disease monitoring. Another issue of concern is the extensive use of pesticides in Brazil that are banned in Europe and the importation of the resulting products into Europe. Thank you.