Europe must be a Union of equality, stated Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in his State of the Union address on Wednesday 13 September, reiterating that he was willing to accept the legitimate demand of the Visegrád Group countries to stop the practice of double standards in food quality (see EUROPE 11838).
“In a Union of equals, there can be no second class consumers. I will not accept that in some parts of Europe, people are sold food of lower quality than in other countries, despite the packaging and branding being identical”, he stated in the section of his speech devoted to the future of the EU with 27 member states and to its values. A Union of equality, indeed, assumes equality between all its members, big and small, East and West, he said.
It is for that reason that “Slovaks do not deserve less fish in their fish fingers. Hungarians less meat in their meals. Czechs less cacao in their chocolate. EU law outlaws such practices already”.
In addition to the guidelines expected very shortly from the Commission, clarifying interpretation of European law so that it is applied properly, Juncker said that “we must now equip national authorities with stronger powers to cut out any illegal practices wherever they exist”.
Picking up on Juncker’s statements, the leader of the Greens Group in Parliament, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium) said: “You don’t want any second class citizens. The Commission must now turn its words into action!” He made the point that, in the EU, citizens ingest or are exposed to harmful substances “that we don’t want to ban” or die “in burning towers, as in the United Kingdom, because we don’t want to create EU standards for flame retardant materials”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)