Beef production in Europe is threatened by loss of profitability, falling consumption and farm concessions made by the EU in its trade negotiations with Canada and perhaps with Mercosur. The EU farm organisations and coops representative - Copa-Cogeca met in Brussels on 6 November with six agricultural ministers (from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Croatia and Bulgaria) and Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan to present possible action for the sector.
The farm organisations proposes that in the future CAP, specific aid for beef production (risk management systems, insurance and pooling funds) should be kept as this is coherent and useful for beef producers; along with measures to facilitate exports to new markets in the form of export credits to allow operators to take risks during periods of market imbalance; promoting European meat domestically and outside the EU so that consumers can distinguish between EU and non-EU beef products.
The most urgent question for the sector is avoiding import quotas (70,000 tonnes at 7.5% duty, according to European Commission proposals) being granted in the current negotiations with Mercosur (see EUROPE 11889). The chair of Copa-Cogeca working group on beef, Jean-Pierre Fleury, expressed concern that the EU's high animal welfare and environment standards were not a subject of discussion in the talks. He said that the Commission says it is not part of its negotiating mandate. Jean-Pierre Fleury also slammed the European beef consumption figures used by the Commission, which show rising beef consumption that would allow an increase in beef imports, because the Copa-Cogeca figures show the exact opposite.