BSE returns to the top of farm agenda

Date: 12/12/1996

By Michael Mann

MAD cow disease looks likely to return to haunt EU agriculture ministers when they gather next week for the last time this year.

There are growing signs that UK Farm Minister Douglas Hogg will present his European counterparts with plans to go ahead with the selective cull agreed at the Florence summit in June.

But in return, Hogg will be looking for an undertaking from his partners that they will give serious consideration to a request to exempt herds certified free of the disease from the current export ban.

Despite strong rumours that the launch of the cull was imminent, UK officials were this week keeping their cards close to their chests. As European Voice went to press, the UK cabinet was discussing the issue, with three different options under consideration.

A slaughter scheme limited to Northern Ireland is thought increasingly unlikely. But whether the government goes ahead with a cull or not will depend to a large extent on the attitude of British Finance Minister Kenneth Clarke because of the compensation costs involved.

No formal figure was ever put on the selective cull, although it has generally been assumed that it would cover 147,000 animals. With some of these already destroyed under the over-30 month scheme, experts expect the final figure to be around 100,000.

If the cabinet agrees, Hogg would probably make a statement to the House of Commons before presenting his ideas to fellow farm ministers, who would in turn refer the plan to the EU's scientific veterinary committee.

Some member states, led by Germany, are expected to react coolly to suggestions of an early partial lifting of the ban. Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler will be anxious to keep political debate to a minimum, leaving it to scientific experts to discuss the merits of any slaughter scheme.

One Commission official even expressed doubts that the ban would be lifted at all until BSE had been effectively wiped out in the UK.

Otherwise, next Monday's (16 December) meeting of agriculture ministers looks set to be uneventful.

The peculiar circumstances presented by the beef crisis earlier this year made it crucial that temporary reform measures were agreed as rapidly as possible. This has had the unusual effect of leaving few major policy questions ripe for a decision at the final meeting of the year.

Officials believe, however, that agreement may still be possible on plans to allow penalties for exceeding area quotas for cereals to be targeted at the regions responsible, rather than at all farmers in the offending country.

But problems remain, largely because those countries which most wanted the scheme - Germany, France and Italy - object to the way the Commission has interpreted their ideas.

Agreement no longer seems possible on amendments to the rules governing geographical protection of certain traditional foodstuffs.

Earlier this year, Fischler promised to add flexibility to allow countries due to lose the right to produce foodstuffs under their traditional geographical names more time to adjust.

But his proposal failed to win the support of the special agriculture committee this week and the issue will now be dealt with by the Dutch presidency.

Veterinary questions will take up much of ministers' attention, in particular a progress report on the ongoing talks between the Union and the US aimed at averting a ban on imports of American products worth almost 1 billion ecu from the start of next year.