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I am delighted to be with you here today. My visit - scheduled long before the tragic events of 11th September last - is devoted to continuing the dialogue with American political leaders, business representatives and the wider community about recent developments in the EU on food safety, particularly biotechnology.
Rightly so, the immediate focus of EU/US co-operation is now on our joint combat of terrorism. The EU is committed to fight this important battle together with you. We owe that to all those who lost their lives on 11th September and the much wider circle of family and friends affected. But most of all we owe it to this generation and future generations of peace-living, lovers of democracy.
Democracy is enduring. It has endured through thick and thin. It has endured two world wars within the last one hundred years. The Iron Curtain has fallen because of the imperative of democracy. Many of the countries hidden from democracy for so many years behind that Iron Curtain are now on the threshold of joining the democratic force of the European Union.
The wings of democracy are spreading across the globe. I believe that the unspeakable events of 11th September will serve to speed the flight of democracy to corners of the world where democracy is still only a dream of a few.
We jointly face a battle to achieve that aim. But the EU and the US standing shoulder to shoulder in that battle will hasten the spread of democracy.
The founding fathers of our two great traditions, from Madison to Monnet, have treasured democracy. Democracy has been our bedrock upon which we have built up two of the greatest and powerful regions on earth.
While in these trying times we must do battle with terrorism and those who support it, we must continue to reinforce trans-Atlantic relations in all other areas. We must not, and cannot, let terror stand in the way of achieving all of our other legitimate goals.
That is why I believe my presence here this week is so necessary. To engage in continuing dialogue with the administration, business, consumers and the general public about issues of mutual concern.
The first part of my week is largely being taken up here in Washington with issues related to food, food safety and trade related implications. The final part of the week will be devoted to visiting colleagues in the CDC in Atlanta to continue our dialogue on public health questions.
One of the big food-related issues of the moment is biotechnology. It is high on my agenda and it is high on the agenda of the US administration.
There are different public attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic to the issue. The vast bulk of the 44 million hectares of GM food crops grown globally is here in the United States. In Europe there is hardly any grown.
There is an irrational fear of GM food in the EU. On the other hand, there are irrational fears on this side of the Atlantic about how we in Europe are proposing to address the issue.
Let me be very frank. Unless we can give EU consumers confidence in this new technology then GM is dead in Europe.
Let me assure you that this is not a scare tactic on my part. I am not prone to exaggeration. But, equally let me assure you that unless we put in place tough, yet fair, laws in Europe, the potential of biotechnology in the agri-food arena will be lost.
Permit me to say a few words about our new package of draft laws. They will put in place a new regime for assessing GMO food and animal feed from a safety and environmental point of view.
This will provide a strong reassurance to consumers that only products that have been thoroughly assessed for safety will be put on the market.
As part of the new approval process, GM food and feed will have to be labelled as such. We stand accused that this is a major imposition, is unjustified and unenforceable. I reject these accusations.
Europe is perfectly entitled to impose the labelling rules proposed. Our consumers are demanding this. They are entitled to choice and full information.
To those who say that these labels are not science-based let me say this. Labelling is not an issue for science alone. It is an issue for consumer information.
It may not be fully appreciated widely that consumer information is now a right since the Amsterdam Treaty has become part of the constitutional arrangements of the European Union. Consumer information must now be take most seriously. It is akin to including a similar provision in the US Constitution.
Labels that cover all GM derived products ensure that our consumers are able to choose a GM product or a non-GM product. Combined with strict safety assessments, we are able to reassure our consumers that they can have confidence in this new technology.
We can, moreover, assure consumers that the labels are underpinned by effective traceability systems. Such systems can also prevent excessive economic loss, liability exposure and brand damage in case an unforeseen risk to human health or the environment appears. The recent case in the US whereby a GM-maize, StarLink, approved only for animal feed, entered the human food chain demonstrates clearly that the lack of a mandatory traceability requirement could result in huge costs.
Life sciences and biotechnology are in a stage of exponential growth. They open up a vast range of potential in terms of future benefits, competitive advantage, economic growth and employment opportunities.
In line with the European Union's strategic goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, the European Commission is placing particular emphasis on the potential of life sciences and biotechnology.
Within the next few months, the European Commission will publish our strategic vision for life sciences and biotechnology over the next decade. Clearly Europe wants to be at the leading edge of innovation and competitiveness in these fields.
We share many of the same goals as our US partners in this regard. It is my expectation that we can move together in facing the challenges and reaping the opportunities the future holds, while competing fairly on global markets.
The final point I wish to make on biotechnology relates to the effective moratorium on new approvals in the EU. This is an unfortunate situation and has helped nobody in my view.
It is my firm hope and intention that we can get the approvals process working again. I have mandated my officials to start a dialogue with the Member States of the European Union with a view to re-starting approvals.
The climate for dialogue towards this end is now more propitious than previously. We have new environmental legislation on the statute book. And I have made proposals for new legislation that should allay any remaining, substantial concern.
We are now intent on exploring with our Member States and applicant companies how we could in practical terms resume authorisations. I am sure that there will be a host of pragmatic and legal issues to be covered. But we must make a start and we are meeting our Member States about these issues on 16th October next.
Even with new approvals coming through and new safety laws, it will take some time to get consumer confidence back. We may have to look to the next generation of GMOs to offer clear, more tangible benefits for consumers. But we must make a start and make it quickly.
Before concluding, I would like to avail of this opportunity to bring you up to date on my plans to establish a European Food Authority.
When I came into office over two years ago in the midst of a host of food scares, I looked across the Atlantic with envious eyes on the solid reputation that the USFDA had built up over many decades. This was an organisation in which consumers had confidence.
In Europe we had nothing comparable. And I immediately set about discovering what lessons we could draw from the American experience.
Without going into the details of why we could not, legally and otherwise, copy the USFDA model, I clearly saw the great potential in establishing, within our own legal framework, a food safety regime that would work for Europe.
We are now well on the way to achieving that ambition. Our basic food law, incorporating the new European Food Authority, is now nearly finished its passage through our Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
Shortly we will start recruiting the new Management Board, Executive Director and staff, and establishing our new system of scientific risk assessment.
This is ground breaking stuff. It is an enormous project on a pan-European scale. It is something vitally necessary to underpin food safety in Europe. Equally importantly, our citizens will have a highly visible Authority in which to have faith and confidence.
May I say in conclusion how pleased I am to be here in Washington again. Being an Irishman I feel that I am never a stranger in this city or anywhere else in your great country. One of forty million Irish Americans But that is only one aspect of the great bond between Europe and America.
That bond is now closer than ever. Based on shared values and objectives through constructive dialogue and with common cause that bond can become ever closer across a huge field of endeavours.
Thank you very much for your attention.