On the 25th of March, during the Brussels plenary session, MEPs have voted Mr. Scottà’s report regarding the reform of the quality policy. They sent a strong signal to the European Commission by adopting an amendment that calls for the adaptation of the “production potential to market demands”. Following EFOW’s actions, MEPs have positioned themselves in favour of tools allowing for the management of production for quality products.
On the 25th of March, during the Brussels plenary session, the European Parliament adopted Mr. Scottà’s report concerning the reform of the quality policy in the European Union. This report is the follow-up of the Commission Communication published in May 2009. On that occasion, the Commission had not planned to develop tools enabling European quality products to manage their production. Following EFOW’s actions, a large majority of MEPs adopted a text in favour of managing the production for quality products, designed “to adapt production potential to market demands”. This vote sends a strong signal to the European Commission, since it clearly shows that the European parliament calls for a proposal that will take into account the importance of having management tools of production. Furthermore, it is essential to underline the fact that MEPs have also opposed themselves strongly to the merging of the PDO and PGI concepts put forth by the Commission in its Communication.
For Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, President of EFOW, “MEPs consider that it is impossible to maintain a quality production in Europe without specific production management tools. We welcome the final vote on the Scottà Report, which took place the day after the launch of our European federation for which the management of production is an important issue. Now, the Commission must take into account this necessity!”.
Furthermore, the President of EFOW also stressed the fact that “in order to push the Commission to introduce in its proposal the idea of developing production management tools, the Ministers of Agriculture must also be involved. We expect them to take a strong stance on this topic!”
The Commission’s legislative proposal is expected to be published this autumn and the final vote on this text will most certainly take place in 2011.