Julie Hrstková on the positive impact of the E. coli outbreak

The E. coli breakout has already claimed more than 20 victims in Germany, but columnist Julie Hrstková hopes it could also have some positive effects in the business paper Hospodářské noviny: "Many have joined the queue of those waiting for compensation in connection with the E. coli bacteria. Not just the Spanish but also Germans, Dutch and Romanians. Hundreds of millions are at stake. Perhaps that's not so much in comparison with the annual subsidies for agriculture. For highly indebted Europe 60 billion euros are truly enough. ... This makes you wonder about Europe's agricultural policy. Why must Spain grow cucumbers in the middle of the desert? Is it at all necessary to cart vegetables thousands of kilometres across Europe? And how effective is Europe's warning system against infections? It would be nice if the E. coli outbreak helped to banish all this nonsense from European agriculture. But so far it looks like only more and more dismal news and chaos are doing the rounds."

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Health Policy, » Agriculture, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Julie Hrstková

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, June 7, 2011