Brussels, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The package of measures aimed at remedying the imbalance existing in the Community market for bovine meat, presented by the Commission on 16 February, raises further controversy between the Member States, even if the technical assessment of these proposals allowed to define the national positions in more detail (see EUROPE of 28 February, p.8). The Special Agriculture Committee (SAC) examined, on Monday afternoon, the proposals made by Franz Fischler that are on the agenda of the Agriculture Council on 19 March. Half of the delegations insisted for the Commission to not only present the statistical elements that justify these proposals, but also for further data on the situation of the markets. Other countries wanted for it to study alternative solutions such as: - the reduction in the average weight of veal calves being slaughtered (Germany and Austria); - the anticipation on 1 July 2001 of the third stage of price reductions foreseen in the Agenda 2000 (Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom); - the reintroduction of the veal processing premium, formerly the Herode premium (France and Ireland). The works at expert level allowed to find the following, admittedly disparate, positions:
Special premium for young male bovines: is favoured by Belgium and Spain and treated with reservations by other delegations, which feel that this new system would impose heavy administrative burdens and that it would not contribute toward reducing production. These delegations place emphasis on the dangers of reducing the revenues of producers.
Capping special premium for young male bovines: the German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish and Swedish delegations oppose it due to the administrative costs. The others have not raised objections.
Modifications of premium system for "suckler cows": Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden accept the suggestion aiming to take into account, for eligibility to the premium, the number of heifers. Denmark, Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom challenge the basic principal of this plan, which does not respect, according to them, the aims of extensive production. The Commission also proposes to temporarily suspend the possibility of redistributing the duties paid to the national reserve (agreement from Belgium and Italy, and reservations from the other delegations, which doubt the harmonised implementation of this measure in all the Member States).
Density factor: the Commission proposes to reduce the density factor to 1.8 adult bovine units (ABU) instead of the present 2 ABU, which eleven delegations seem prepared to accept. Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Italy are relatively reticent.
Intervention purchases: Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom are opposed to the removal of the annual limit of 350,000 tonnes of intervention purchases for the years 2001 to 2002. Germany proposes an immediate reduction of 15% in the intervention price, while the other delegations are in relative agreement over the principal of this short-term measure.