mr president what could be simpler than laying down rules for giving information to consumers
but different interpretations and different practices in different countries and competing commercial interests have led to much complexity
personally i will be voting for traffic lights country of origin labelling and more information about alcoholic drinks but past experience suggests there is still plenty of room for confusion
in his opening remarks the commissioner referred to the legislation on food health claims
in a response to a parliamentary question he has just given me he says that forty-four zero applications for health claims have been made by companies
the european food safety authority is completely swamped and the commission has not yet given a single opinion in response to these applications
the commission itself is now in breach of european law so this is a complete mess
perhaps the commissioner will use his closing remarks to tell us how we are going to get out of it
