Brussels, 23/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - In response to criticism in the Italian press accusing the Commission of bad management of the mad cow crisis and an attempt to misinform consumers with a view to reassuring public opinion, the Commission took stock of the situation in a communiqué published on Wednesday. It specifies that:
1) The Commission has consistently led rather than followed in putting in place Community measures to combat BSE. Over 50 laws have been passed at EU level, and these were often adopted notwithstanding the strong opposition of some Member States. "For example, the requirement to remove and destroy specified risk materials, the single most important protective measure in relation to BSE was adopted by the Commission in June 2000, almost four years after the original proposal was presented to the Council by the Commission. This delay was due to the outright opposition of some Member States who insisted that there was no BSE on their territory", it stresses.
2) Community measures alone are not sufficient to eradicate BSE, and must be strictly implemented. The Commission has time and again found serious fault in Member States' performance in this respect. The biggest errors to be found relate to Member States which insisted they were BSE-free. The Commission is currently carrying out inspections to evaluate the performance of States in the implementation of the most recent measures adopted by the EU, mainly the new system of compulsory screening and the temporary ban on meat and bone meal in farm animal feed. The Agriculture Council on 29 January will allow the Agriculture Ministers to take stock of their compliance with Community measures in the fight against BSE.
The Commission concludes by stressing that it will, for its part, continue to insist in favour of strict implementation of the measures in place. "The current crisis has its origins not in a lack of measures but in their poor implementation. Critics of the Commission's performance on BSE should focus on the latter in deciding where blame lies for the present crisis", it states.
With regard to the discussion in progress at the Commission on a possible amendment to the Community legislation on the mad cow disease, the spokesman for David Byrne confirmed, on Wednesday, that the Commission was reflecting on how appropriate it is to lower the age limit for cattle subject to compulsory BSE screening tests in all Member States (this limit, being set at over 30 months of age at the present time, would possibly be brought down to 24 months). Concerning the suitability of lengthening the list of specified risk material, on the basis of the opinion by the Scientific Steering Committee (see EUROPE of 18 January, p.11), the next Agriculture Council will make it possible to sound out ministers, but no formal proposal will be submitted to the Fifteen, it states. If reflection under way were to result in a draft decision, then the latter would, as it should, be first of all submitted to the Standing Veterinary Committee.