Brussels, 19/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - According to the German daily "Berliner Zeitung", no less than six Member States are reticent or even opposed to the package of emergency measures to re-establish the European market for beef, presented last Tuesday to the European Parliament by Commissioner Franz Fischler (see EUROPE of 14 February, p.14). Moreover, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have expressed their criticisms against this group of seven measures. They target both certain measures aimed at encouraging the extensification of production (notably, the ceiling of 90 heads of cattle per farm) and the special buying system that was seen by some as being an additional slaughter programme, while the Member States retain the freedom to choose between the destruction and storage of the meat considered not to be fit for sale (see EUROPE of 17 February, p.8). The Fischler plan is presently being examined by the SSC. It will be submitted to the Agriculture Ministers during their meeting next Monday.
In a meetings published on Saturday by the French daily "Liberation", Commissioner Franz Fischler reasserts that the measures proposed "are necessary to tackle the immediate crisis". "I am not saying that they are intangible. I am prepared to discuss them", he adds, while nevertheless feeling that "the final result should move towards a greater extensification and a reduction of the volume of beef in the next two years".
Furthermore, on Friday the beef management committee bought 33,827 tonnes of beef to support the market. This concerns 31,127 tonnes from Belgium, Denmark, Spain (11,194 t.), France (13,471 t.), Italy (5,351 t.) and Austria, under the normal intervention and of 2,700 tonnes of German beef entering into the security net.