Luxembourg, 18/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Agriculture Council reached, on Monday evening, agreement on broad guidelines for the future system of compulsory labelling of beef. As was proposed by the European Commission, it will be implemented in two phases, but more rapidly. In fact:
1) As of the 1st September 2000: on the labelling should appear (a) a number or reference code showing the relations between the meat and animal or group of animals, (b) the registration number of the slaughterhouse and the place of slaughter (name of the Member State or third country), (c) the registration number of the processing plant and the country where it is situated, (d) the category of animal (the management committee should define what is understood by "category").
2) As of the 1st January 2002: the labelling will have the name of the Member State of birth for the animal and the name of the Member State where it was fattened, the name of this state will only be noted once on the label. If two or three member States are involved, they will all be noted. "From EC" mark will be abandoned. As for imported meat from third countries, the operators will be able to chose between the mark "origin: Non EC" or the indication of the place of birth, fattening and slaughter, where several countries are concerned. If it is only a third country, its name will have to be displayed on the label.
The Ministers also agreed on the labelling of minced meat. The label show mention in the first sentence a number or reference code insuring tractability, the place of slaughter and the place of processing, with in the last two cases the name of the country concerned. Other indications among those foreseen for meat, as well as the date of processing, can be added by the operators if they wish to do so.
This broad guideline was adopted unanimously apart from Denmark, the Danish Minister Ritt Bjerregaard having no benefit from the possibility of introducing the system for the Member States on imposing the inclusion of the date of processing for minced meat. The Commission and other Member States felt that such a possibility would be in contradiction with the singleness of the labelling. The Council should definitively adopt the compromise reached on Monday in the form of a common position in May. In the mean time, informal discussion must take place with the European Parliament, who has codecision of this matter. It is a case of solving the problem of the legal basis (the Council would be favourable for a double legal basis, for as much as the Parliament and the Commission accept it) and to see the extent to which the Parliament will be able to carry out its second reading by June without opening the way for a conciliation process, which would slow the definitive adoption of the regulation (and could compromise the first deadline at the end of September).
During the final press conference, the Council President, Luis Capoulas Santos and the Commissioner Franz Fischler welcomed the broad guidelines approved by the Council, while underlining that it answers the needs for a "single system" replacing 15 different systems and transmitting vital information for the consumer. Answering a question on Scottish and Welsh beef, they reminded that this labelling system does not bring into question the original denominations that are consecrated by other Community texts. Speaking with journalists, the French Jean Glavany was also very pleased. Underlining that minced meat represents around 30% of the beef consumption and often mush more for the less favoured levels of society, he especially welcomed the compromise reached on this issue to the extent that it allows them to avoid the creation of a system where the traceability would have existed for the rich, but not the poor. Mr. Glavany also indicated that Mrs. Bjerregaard reminded that children are significant consumers of minced meat. He felt that the acceleration of the implementation of the new labelling owes a great deal to the pressure brought to bear by the consumers and by the "very large vote" of the European Parliament, last week.
Furthermore the Council:
to take appropriate measures to "obtain from our partners - and above all from the part of the less developed countries - the broadest support possible for the Community approach". It reiterates its stance in favour of the "offensive approach". During this exchange of views, Italian Minister Paolo De Castro mainly insisted on this offensive approach. He said that, during the negotiation, the European Commission should bear in mind that the future of the EU in world trade will mainly be based on exports of quality, agricultural and processed products.
Spain also expressed concern about the cotton regime (see EUROPE of 17 April, p.7) and that for nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds). The minister recalled the importance of this production (600,000 ha) which employs around 150,000 farmers in his country. He called for extension of Community aid to improve these crops. Commissioner Fischler bluntly refused recalling that specific aid was foreseen for a maximum ten year period and that the States concerned have been perfectly aware of this for the past ten years. He pointed out, moreover, that there are still aid possibilities, mainly within the framework of rural development. The current regime for aid to production expires in 2006.