The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, has told the European Commission about his opposition to the introduction of less strict pest control regulations on citrus fruits imported from third countries in a letter to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenins Andriukaitis.
Last May, the European Commission decided to temporarily enforce less strict controls on citrus imports intended for the processing industry, requiring fewer treatments to prevent the spread of certain pests in the EU.
The EU executive has recently proposed making these measures permanent by changing the current European pest control directive, as reported by Valcárcel in a statement.
In this regard, the MEP sent a joint letter to Andriukaitis, as well as to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, in which he warned of the risks for the European productions involved in the reduction of controls to prevent the entry of pests such as Black Spot or citrus canker.
The letter says that "the proposed changes entail a relaxation of European controls on the import of citrus fruits for the processing industry, which is particularly worrying if we take into account that the products are coming from countries with pests such as Black Spot."
As Valcárcel recalled, the measures proposed by the Commission are even more risky in a context in which "European producers are making great efforts to supply us with products of the highest quality, always complying with European standards. That is why we cannot accept the enforcement of less strict control mechanisms for imported products under any circumstances."
The Vice-President has therefore asked Commissioner Andriukaitis to reconsider these measures, because "they do not take into account the recommendations from the EFSA."
