Paris to push for agreement on raft of food safety measures

Date: 29/06/2000

By Renée Cordes

There is little doubt that one of the key issues facing the EU now - food safety - is especially close to the hearts, and stomachs, of the country which takes over the rotating Union presidency next month.

The country of Brie cheese and champagne remains embroiled in a legal battle with the European Commission over its refusal to lift its ban in imports of British beef because of continuing concerns about mad cow disease, even though the EU as whole agreed last year that British beef was safe and that the embargo should be lifted.

As Paris continues to conduct tests on cattle within its borders, sometimes having to kill entire herds at a time, it will use its term at the helm of the Union to keep food safety issues in the spotlight as much as possible over the next six months.

It would, of course, be easy for any member state to maintain the momentum as the EU executive follows up on the ambitious goals set out in the White Paper on food safety drawn up by consumer protection chief David Byrne and his enterprise counterpart Erkki Liikanen.

Toward the end of this year, the Commission hopes to unveil its long-awaited proposal to establish a European food authority, which will be responsible for assessing health risks and informing consumers about potential hazards.

The proposal will set out in detail how the agency will operate. It is widely expected that it will have limited powers similar to those wielded by the European Medicinal Evaluation Agency (EMEA), instead of being mirrored on the more powerful US Food and Drug Administration. The Commission and European Parliament will also insist that the new body must be completely independent, although member states will be reluctant to give the it the power to overrule national agencies' decisions.

Agreement on the Commission's far-reaching proposals to bolster food hygiene 'from the farm to the fork' are also expected later this year under the tough timetable laid out in the White Paper.

France will also push for accords on planned rules governing vitamin and mineral supplements. and insist repeatedly on taking a precautionary approach towards food safety issues - erring on the side of caution - even if some argue that this hampers free trade.

Paris is equally concerned about promoting a healthy diet in the EU, and hopes to secure agreement from the 14 other member states on Union-wide guidelines by the end of this year. This is in large part aimed at reducing deaths from cancer and heart disease, although the move is seen as controversial by some who claim that diets vary widely from one region to another and it is therefore impossible to come up with one broad set of guidelines.

Paris will also press for tough restrictions on the advertising and branding of food, with a heavy emphasis on curbing the advertising of junk food to children. This will not be easy, and will no doubt be shot down by the powerful food retailing industry.

Article forms part of a survey on the French EU Presidency, July-December 2000.