Wonder if they've ever been to Aldi?

The EU was planning to introduce a compulsory organic labelling scheme across all 27 countries. Like an edible blue flag system it was to provide that little added EU value to consumers. But the whole program has been put back by a year from Jan 1st 2009 to Jan 1st 2010.


However DG Agriculture had reckoned without the lawyers of Aldi, who pointed out that the EU logo, (right) had way too much similarity to their own Aldi organic logo (left). The Commission has had to back down.


Not only is the logo confusing due to the fact that "Bio" means different things in different countries but also its very purpose is questionable, as pointed out by the Soil Association,

Campaigns director Robin Maynard said: "Far from providing ‘assurances’, the bio logo will confuse people, goes against the trend for more local, regionally distinctive produce, and could lead to dilution of organic standards. And because space on packaging is limited, it is possible that the mandatory logo will push information like the Soil Association’s own symbol off the pack altogether.

“Harmonising markets to the lowest common denominator and maximising global competitiveness may be top priorities for global agribiz. But they run completely counter to the principles of the organic movement and are out of tune with the burgeoning interest among consumers for local, regionally distinctive foods and closer connection with producers.

“People want to buy locally sourced organic sausages supporting Norfolk, Cumberland, or Schleswig-Holstein producers not some anonymous ‘Euro-organic sausage’.”

The added costs caused by this cock up have not even been estimated - watch this space.

Of course one cannot expect senior Commission decision makers to ever visit budget shops like ALDI, so I guess they cannot be blamed for the farce.

Comment thread

Here piggy wiggy

That's it I resign. This latest piece of lunacy has tipped me over the balance and I think I am going to start taking large quantities of drugs. I am told, that despite popular belief they do indeed work.

From now on pleased address any correspondence to,

That bloke wearing rags,
The shed
Lala land.

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims....

The CD-Rom digital version of the traditional story of the three little pigs, called Three Little Cowboy Builders, is aimed at primary school children.

But judges at this year's Bett Award said that they had "concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

The feedback from the judges explaining why they had rejected the CD-Rom highlighted that they "could not recommend this product to the Muslim community".

They also warned that the story might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)".

The judges criticised the stereotyping in the story of the unfortunate pigs: "Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?"

Oh for pities sake. Wake me up when they have gone.

Illegal Immigration to be abolished says MEP

It is a fact that millions of illegal immigrants are living in Europe. Life as an illegal is a modern form of slavery and must therefore be abolished.

So says Manfred Weber in his report to be voted upon next week,

on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals

To say that I am somewhat startled by this is an understatement, and it is serious as he points out,

"This is the first time that the co-decision procedure has applied to Parliament's consideration of a draft common return procedure directive."

So in other words this will be law. It does not seem to have crossed the young chaps mind that modern equivalent of slavery is slavery, as those in Mauritania and Sudan will testify. The point is that slavery is involuntary and immigration, even illegal immigration, is voluntary. Now if you are talking about those being trafficked into sex slavery, then call it what it is slavery and it must be stopped. But don't equate illegal immigration with slavery, you cheapen the concept.

Oh and how the hell does he think that illegal immigration can be abolished? There are a couple of ways of doing it as far as my imagination works,

1) Abolish all immigration controls in their entirety.
2) Set up a network of maxim guns at all points around the EU border and blow them all away as soon as they appear over the horizon.
or,
3) Make the EU such an unattractive place to live, with a collapsing economy, dropping living standards, failing governmental system and so on as to make it unattractive to prospective migrants.

Aha, now I see the strategy.

Big, Wrinkled and Hairy

Tony Robinson the affable (and if I may be so bold as to say, short) press officer for the Socialist Group in the European Parliament has it appears, and in a technical sense, dropped a bollock. Immediately after the announcement that the hard right nationalist Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty had imploded due to its Romanian section storming off after a few choice words from Ms Mussolini about Romanians in Italy he sent out a press release,

"NEWS FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SOCIALIST GROUP

14 November
2007: Contact Tony Robinson +32-XXXXXXXXXX
www.socialistgroup.eu

APPLAUSE GREETS COLLAPSE OF FAR RIGHT
GROUP OF EURO MPs

Socialist Euro MPs today welcomed an official announcement of the collapse of a far-right group of Euro MPs whose members include the grand-daughter of Mussolini.

After the Parliament president declared that the once 24-strong Independence and Democracy Group no longer existed, Socialist Group leader Martin Schulz said:

"We are happy that this group, which does not belong in European democracy, has been dissolved.

"The good news is that the International of the ultra-nationalists no longer exists and cannot use the money of the European taxpayer to support its xenophobia and neo-fascism."

The announcement by acting parliament president Edward McMillan Scott that the Group is dissolved with immediate effect was greeted by sustained applause in the
Strasbourg parliamentary chamber.

end

The problem is that he got the name of the group wrong, and was thus suggestion that people like Jens-Peter Bonde and Nigel Farage were xenophobic and neo-fascist. Now of course Mr Schulz does think that, and he would be delighted that the legitimate voice of Euroscepticism could be closed down however for now I think a grovelling apology will suffice.