Eastern applicants face stiff farm test

Date: 10/09/1998

By Myles Neligan

APPLICANTS for EU membership will have to make strenuous efforts to bring their animal and plant health rules in line with Union norms, claim European Commission officials as they prepare a formal assessment of the eastern candidates' readiness for membership.

"This is clearly an area where major divergences will emerge," said a member of the Commission team which will start 'screening' the compatibility of the leading applicants' farm laws with EU rules later this month.

The six front runners for Union membership (Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic) will draw up their final negotiating positions for the remainder of the accession talks on the basis of the Commission's assessment of their existing laws.

EU foreign ministers will then decide whether or not the applicants' negotiating positions are an acceptable starting-point for formal entry talks.

Officials stress that gaps in the eastern applicants' agricultural legislation should not significantly delay the accession negotiations, pointing out that all the front runners for EU membership are making a determined strenuous effort to align their regulations with those of the Union.

In addition, a full veterinary equivalence agreement, guaranteeing mutual recognition of food safety standards, is already in force between the EU and the Czech Republic. Similar accords with Hungary and Poland are under discussion.

But there is general agreement that many candidate countries will face their toughest challenge in bridging the food safety gap. Inadequate pesticide testing in Estonia and insufficient controls on swine fever in Slovenia are areas of particular concern.

Recent food safety crises, most notably the 1996 'mad cow' disease scare, have strengthened the Commission's resolve to ensure that the central and eastern European countries (CEECs) adopt animal and plant health laws equivalent to those of the Union.

The alleged inadequacy of veterinary regulations in eastern Europe have already resulted in the suspension of Polish dairy exports to the EU worth an estimated 110 million ecu per year, after Commission inspectors found poor hygiene standards in two of the country's export-certified dairy plants.

The introduction of equivalent veterinary laws in the applicant countries is intended to ensure that their agricultural products, which in most cases account for a high proportion of total exports, can circulate freely within the Union. But bringing their agricultural legislation into line with the EU's is also seen as essential as, once the enlargement process is complete, responsibility for monitoring much of the Union's farm imports will fall to the new eastern EU members.

"These countries will represent the Community's border to the East and must take over a heavy responsibility for the entire EU in protecting our livestock and plant stocks, and the safety of our food," said Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler in a recent speech.

The CEECs accept the need to upgrade their veterinary legislation, but are urging the Commission not to adopt too hardline an approach, saying that this may turn public opinion against Union membership.

This is particularly true of Poland, which has an estimated 10 million farmers, equivalent to 27% of the workforce. "There is already a feeling amongst farmers that joining the EU imposes only obligations and confers no rights," said a Polish diplomat.