Wednesday, 30th December 2009
Exciting year in prospect
Dear Sir,
I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and all your readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year. It has certainly been an exciting year and I am looking forward to the challenges 2010 will bring.
Fishing and farming issues will continue to dominate the headlines and I will be fighting for Scotland in the European Parliament.
The introduction of the highly contentious electronic identification (EID) legislation comes into effect in January, making it compulsory for farmers to identify and record the individual movement of sheep across Europe. In the UK, the implementation of EID will be gradual, taking place over the next two years.
Electronic identification has had its critics (myself included), but despite our best efforts it has become a reality and we must now ensure that the farming sector is not the loser when the legislation comes into force.
Fishermen continue to battle for their livelihood with the catastrophic Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) causing widespread grief and with ever-tougher quota reductions, reduced days at sea and a plethora of red tape and regulations, making their job almost untenable.
Following the Copenhagen conference on climate change, there is a real opportunity for Scotland to lead the way in reducing carbon emissions. This is set to become the key debate of the New Year.
There are exciting times ahead for Scotland as well as some major challenges. But together we can continue to make Scotland great.
Best wishes,
Struan Stevenson MEP
