Sir, - With reference to the letter of Bernie Malone MEP, on the European Parliament's response to BSE (April 3rd) following The Irish Times article by Paddy Smith. In this article, Bernie Malone claims that the Socialists supported the deferred motion of censure and she attacks the Greens in particular for their strategic approach. It is an increasingly common election tactic to attack the Greens while claiming credit for work the Greens have done. The public is well aware that when it comes to public health and the environment, pro-active pressure for reform is coming from the Greens. BSE is a case in point. The deferred motion of censure was in fact a Green proposal to the Committee of Enquiry, and was not supported by the Socialists as a group in the committee. The Socialists were not proposing to censure the Commission at all, until it was forced on them by the Committee of Enquiry.
The idea of the deferred censure, or suspended sentence, as the Greens referred to it, was that reforms needed to be implemented urgently. The best way to ensure this was to pass a motion of censure on the Commission, which comes into force at the end of the year if the promised reforms are not implemented. The success of this strategy can be gauged by the prompt and sweeping response of President Santer, who promised detailed reforms along the lines proposed by the Greens. These included compensation for the families of CJD victims, disciplinary action or changes of personnel where appropriate, and, the reorganisation of the scientific committee so that its appointments and recommendations would be open to public scrutiny.
The BSE disaster is an example of the nightmarish down side of our modern world. The European Parliament's committee of enquiry into BSE was extremely critical of the British government for not taking action strong enough to prevent the spread of infection when the early warning signs first materialised. The Parliament was also very critical of the Commission for not implementing consumer safety criteria between 1990 and 1994. The Greens have been pushing for action on BSE since the first warning signs appeared in 1986. If their recommendations had been followed from the beginning we would all have been saved a lot of grief.
The Greens did not table a direct motion of censure of the Commission because, if not passed, this would have been in effect a motion of confidence in the Commission, leading to further inaction. Once a motion of censure had been tabled by a Belgian socialist MEP, however, the Greens could not vote confidence in the Commission because of its dire record in relation to BSE. The Committee of Enquiry is an example of the crucial importance of developing democratic control in the European Union, in the interests of the people of Europe. - Yours, etc.,
The European Parliament,
Rue Belliard 97-113,
Brussels,
Belgium.