Double standards concerning the quality of foodstuffs in the European Union (EU) are a problem that has to be dealt with by the European Commission (EC), concurred the heads of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) at a meeting in Warsaw on Thursday. Following the talks between the V4 leaders and agriculture ministers, the four central European countries called on the EC to prepare an analysis and a proposal for legislative action in this regard. Moreover, the V4 will establish a joint working group to coordinate actions and improve the mutual exchange of information regarding the issue.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico initiated the V4 get-together after it was discovered that lower-quality foodstuffs are being imported from Western Europe to the four countries. Fico doesn't consider the double standards concerning the quality of food to be a technical problem. "I can perceive the extremely dangerous political message stemming from a situation in which people in the same EU have unequal access to quality food products," he said.
The V4 premiers and agriculture ministers concurred that it's necessary to push the EC into complying with the conclusions of a European Parliament resolution from 2013. This calls on the EC to take up a clear stance on double food standards in the EU, to analyse this and provide recommendations on how to avoid it. "The message that we want to send to Europe is that we really have a single market, united consumers and united health. So, it's unacceptable for us and for the other member countries that form the V4 to have two categories of consumers. We want to ensure that goods that can be bought in one European country have the same cover and content as in other member states," said Slovak Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Gabriela Matečná.
Fico is convinced that the EC will respond to the V4's clear call. If Slovakia sees a lax attitude towards the issue on the part of the EC, the Slovak premier doesn't rule out a petition from the Slovak Government. As many as one million signatures would be needed for such a petition to be valid.
