Sir, - I refer to recent correspondence regarding the Biotechnology Directive from VOICE. Thankfully the inaccuracies of their letter (May 23rd) have been rectified.
This Directive has a very long and complex history and I can say without exception that all my colleagues, both from Ireland and elsewhere, took their responsibility in relation to it extremely seriously. Personally I voted against it when it first came before the European Parliament in 1995. In the second reading we were satisfied that considerable tightening up had been done on the Directive and that initial concerns were well addressed.
The whole area of Biotechnology and the claims made both for and against it are both politically and emotionally sensitive areas. Complex technical issues are frequently discussed in the European Parliament as we work towards common legislation and completing the internal market. In addition we have the responsibility to support the development of European science and technology with the enormous challenges and opportunities these new technologies represent. Many allegations of sinister and intrusive lobbies have been made by those who opposed the Patenting Directive and I would like to comment on my own personal experience of those lobbies.
Informing MEPs of the implication of EU legislation is a perfectly legitimate exercise. Indeed, in many cases if we did not have this information it would be impossible for us to make any kind of a reasoned political judgement on the legislation. The Parliament has gone to considerable trouble to control certain lobbyists and to clarify and open up their activities and to scrutinise where there are possibilities for undue influence. Side by side with industrial lobbyists there are a vast number of NGOs and campaigning groups who have equal, and very often considerably more persuasive and intrusive, access to the Parliament. My responsibility as an MEP is ultimately to assess and make my judgement after careful consideration and consultation, as to how I vote on these issues. I take this responsibility very seriously.
There appears to be an increasing tendency on the part of some of the NGOs and colleagues who are not ultimately satisfied with the outcome of the Parliament's decisions to attack those who do not vote the way they want. Part of this attack appears to suggest that, in some way, some powerful industry has "bought off" the institutions. This is simply not true. We are perfectly capable of recognising self interested and well financed lobbies. The recent overwhelming vote by the Parliament to ban tobacco advertising is a case in point. In specific relation to the Biotechnology Directive, it was not representatives of either the scientific or the industrial interests who grossly intruded on the Members in the corridors of the EP, who clogged up our fax machines for hours with repetitive chain letters and who wrote threatening and offensive letters.
In terms of the political process (heavily under fire throughout the world), it is important to recognise that the essence of Democracy is, surely, that all points of view have a legitimate place, but that in the end we can't always win all we hoped. - Yours, etc., Mary Banotti MEP, European Parliament,
Molesworth St., Dublin 2.