Brussels, 30/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The importance of a common and long-term approach to the mad cow crisis, the appropriateness of lengthening the list of specified risk materials used in the animal feed and human food chain, and the need to rescue the collapsing market without sending agricultural spending through the roof (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.7) were unanimously recognised by the Agriculture Ministers of the Fifteen, meeting in Brussels on Monday until late into the night. The political conclusions adopted at the end of lengthy discussions on the health/consumer aspects of the issue and on measures that should be taken in the medium-term to avoid, on the one hand, being faced with overabundant supply on the market, and, on the other, placing the meat in storage in competition with meat arriving on the market, reflect these three necessities. Placed back to the wall, the Council became aware of the exorbitant cost of support measures the funding of which would represent three times the available margin for agricultural spending in the 2001 budget if a move towards a reduction in beef production was not resolutely made.
These conclusions were welcomed by Council President Margareta Winberg as a major breakthrough in this first session under the Swedish Presidency. Ms. Winberg did not conceal that the measure aimed at imposing on all Member States the inclusion of cattle vertebrae on the list of specified risk materials was the most controversial point. "We had lengthy discussions on the question of whether certain countries should be dealt with differently. The conclusions provide for possibilities of exemptions", she stipulated, recalling that a classification of countries by category of geographic risk of incidents of BSE already existed and may enable countries like Sweden and Finland to escape this constraint. Ms. Winberg also stressed that the conclusions placed emphasis on the strict respect of the "Berlin ceiling" (set at the Summit of May 1999). Referring to the health aspect of the issue, the President stressed the willingness of the Fifteen to take common decisions on the basis of the regulation on the monitoring of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) and on the legislation concerning animal by-products. Here are the political guidelines that ministers came up with to guide the drawing up of new legislative proposals, guarantors of increased safety for consumers, precondition for a revival of confidence in beef:
Health and consumer protection.
Specified risk materials: on the basis of an opinion issued by the Union's Scientific Steering Committee of 12 January last and an informal proposal made by the Commissioner for Health and Consumers, David Byrne, the Council came down in favour of:
The Council urges the Commission the examine detailed modalities for these future measures (for the withdrawal of vertebrae, it should be a question of the age of the cattle to which this measure will apply and where the withdrawal will take place: in the abattoir, in the carving shop or the butchers?) and to submit a proposal for a decision. This proposal for a decision could be submitted to the Standing Veterinary Committee on 6 February (Germany, which has limited this age to 24 months, was clearly in favour of a similar measure at Union level; Spain was also in favour, but to a lesser extent: Italy proposed 20 months).
Screening: the Council is in favour of maintaining the age limit at thirty months, from which rapid diagnostic tests for BSE, post mortem, would be compulsory for cattle. The Council, indeed, considers the robust implementation of the ban on animal meal and the eviction of specified risk materials from the food chain should offer adequate guarantees, but takes note of the Commission's intention to proceed, if necessary, with a review of this threshold depending on the results of screening programmes and new scientific assessments.
Implementation of legislation. The Council notes the request made by the Commission to all Member States to provide a monthly report on the implementation of the most recent Community mad cow legislation in order to facilitate further action to such decisions.
Third countries. The Council notes the Commission's intention to establish, before 1 April 2001 - the date when the ban on specified risk material will apply to third countries also - the risk category (out of the four categories ranging from the lowest to the highest risk level) to which the different countries belong depending on the national measures for combating BSE and the quantities of meat and bone meal that they have, in the past, imported from the United Kingdom. The evaluation of the geographical risk of BSE incidence prior to this classification is currently being carried out. Results are already available for ten countries. The Commission plans to complete the exercise at the end of March.
Market support.
National aid. The Council invites all Member States to comply with their obligation to notify the Commission of all the individual State aid and aid systems adopted, before they are applied, in order to allow the Community Executive to give its views on their compliance with Community regulations (at this stage, Spain is the only country to have notified State aid) and to present a report during the next Council, in February.
Purchase for destruction system. The Council notes the invitation made by the Commission to the Member States that have not been exempted from applying the purchase for destruction system for cattle over 30 months that have not undergone screening for BSE, as being the most costly measure.
Reduction of beef and veal production. The Council welcomes the Commission's intention to present before the Council in February a package of measures aimed at righting the balance on the beef and veal market, both in the short and medium term, in strict respect of the financial perspectives fixed by the European Heads of State in Berlin.
Franz Fischler gives ministers a very gloomy picture of the situation
A report by Commissioner Fischler on the latest developments of the European market, observed over a period of three months, and a Commission discussion paper on two scenarios (reduction of 10% and 12% in consumption in 2001), has allowed ministers to measure the gravity of the situation. Compared to the same period last year, the fall in prices is 20% for young cattle, 24% for cows and 11% for heifers. Consumption fell considerably in nine Member States (20% in France to 50% in Germany), three Member States did not record a fall (Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland). Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, for their part, recorded a rise. "The example of Ireland shows that the situation is difficult, not only because of the fall in consumption, but also because of the fall in exports. Unless the situation changes, we shall not be able to count on 53% of our usual exports. We note that the crisis is far more dramatic than it was thought before Christmas", the Commissioner told the press.
In the most optimistic scenario, once the 500,000 tonnes of meat corresponding to the purchase for destruction system have been deducted, there will still be 785,000 tonnes in storage in 2003. In the other scenario (a 12% fall in consumption) this will make nearly 1 million tonnes. The Union's storage capacities have been exhausted. "What we announced would happen - that is, that even if we used all the storage possibilities, it would not be possible to house the unsold meat - has now happened. Quartering and cutting must be envisaged as a priority, as the meat in stock must one day come out", said the Commissioner. Hence the need to limit beef and veal production, a solution that the Commissioner considers as being the only way to "limit the damage to stock farmers". Among the medium term measures that he plans to propose, he cites, by way of example: a) the reduction of veal production by earlier marketing; b) a measure preventing suckler cows from giving birth during one year; c) a measure to make stock farming more extensive so that the number of calves per hectare is reduced; d) the transformation of the special premium to cattle, granted on the basis of national quotas, into a special premium on the basis of quotas per producer. Regarding the loss of income suffered by stock farmers, the Commissioner declared he still needed information from Member States to proceed to an estimation of financial compensations. Regarding Germany's reticence to take part in the squaring system for ethical reasons, Franz Fischler repeated that "we no longer have the choice". He also spoke of the duty of solidarity between Member States saying that the few countries that currently apply the purchase for destruction scheme- Ireland, France, Spain and Luxembourg - can just handle the problem themselves. He went on to say that "non-action also poses an ethical problem as many stock farmers will no longer have the possibility to take their animals to slaughter".
EUROPE will come back to the other results of the Council.