Brussels, 08/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - COPA (the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) and COGECA (the General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in the European Union), which represent 30 million EU farmers and their families, are “unhappy” about the provisional agreement between EU and US negotiators to resolve the long-running dispute over US hormone-treated beef (see EUROPE 9896).
Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca, said that it was crucial that all of the beef
which enters the EU is traceable right back to its origin and that the US can “guarantee that it has not been treated with hormones”. The two organisations say that “consumer protection must remain our key objective and the European Commission must be ready to act if any shipments of US beef are found to be contaminated with growth hormones”.
COPA-COGECA say, too, that the agreement (which allows for quotas of American beef to be imported into the EU) is “another blow” to EU farmers who are already struggling to survive in a market hit by the economic crisis. “The EU is granting the US very substantial market access from year one but the US would be maintaining its sanctions on EU exports for another three years,” Pesonen said, adding, “The agreement means that the EU is offering upwards of €400 million worth of market access over four years but still has to 'pay' an additional €110 million in sanctions. This deal is highly unbalanced”. (L.C./transl.rt)