madam president can i too add my congratulations to mr scottà on his report
there is much in it that is to be commended
unfortunately i and my alde colleagues cannot support it as it currently stands without seeing one or two changes made to it
we cannot support paragraph nineteen the so-called wonky fruit paragraph
i believe it is nonsense for bureaucrats in brussels to be telling consumers that they can buy only straight bananas or straight cucumbers
surely it is up to consumers to make these decisions as to what they want to buy so i hope that parliament will use its common sense and back the joint amendment that has been submitted by the greens and the ecr group to throw out the straight banana rules and leave consumers free to chose whether they want to eat bent or twisted fruit and vegetables or whether they do not
it is surely a decision for consumers
marianne fischer-boel the previous commissioner did decide to abolish the standards and i would hope that we would continue to support that decision
i would also like to see some changes in paragraph sixteen
i understand the call for an eu logo but unless it means something to consumers and adds value for farmers in my view it is a pointless exercise
it has to resonate with consumers and give some sort of return to the farming community
otherwise it is worthless
it is not worth pursuing it and i see no evidence to suggest that european consumers are looking for an eu logo
finally in paragraph sixty-two there is some criticism here of private certification systems which in scotland have been very successful
it seems to me a good thing for farmers on a voluntary basis to add value to their produce through quality assurance schemes and we should be supporting them not discouraging them
i hope we can see some changes to this report in the votes tomorrow and if so we will be able to support it with the changes voted through tomorrow
