European Parliament
Marisa Matias  (GUE/NGL ).
(PT)
Madam President, Commissioner, it may seem strange, but cod is a serious issue in this House. For centuries, traditional methods that safeguard public health have been used to dry cod in Portugal. As such, I would ask why in the world the Commission is now determined to jeopardise these methods, this local knowledge, in order to impose a single, artificial method which uses phosphates and modifies food quality and taste? Why in the world is the Commission messing around with and jeopardising these methods? I ask this because I also want to ask what hidden power the Scandinavian companies that employ this new method can have over the Commission, for this new technology to be imposed? I bring this up for a simple reason: it is sad that we are giving the public this impression of our priorities for EU action. At a time when we are seeing so many shortages of things essential to the lives of the European public, the Commission is choosing to prioritise meddling in the cod industry. I apologise, Madam President, but it even seems like the Commission has nothing better to do.

