WRITTEN QUESTION E-0285/97 by Jaak Vandemeulebroucke (ARE) to the Council (14 February 1997)

Subject: Restriction on meat production - Regulation (EC) No 2222/96 of 18 November 1996

As a result of the BSE crisis a number of measures have been adopted to restrict meat production. One such measure is in Council Regulation (EC) No 2222/96 ((OJ L 296, 21.11.1996, p. 50. )) amending Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 ((OJ L 148, 28.6.1968, p. 24. )) on the common organization of the market in beef and veal.

The amended Article 4i(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 deals with the premium for the slaughter of young male calves.

Can the Council indicate the logic behind this measure, given the opening of annual import quotas for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, of 153 000 live bovine animals weighing 160 to 300 kgs and 178 000 calves (recently extended to the Baltic states under Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 - OJ L 254, 8.10.1996, p. 1.)?

Does the Council agree with the view that, having regard to the BSE crisis, special circumstances should be invoked with the Central and Eastern European countries and the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a temporary suspension of such import regulations should be requested?

Does the Council consider that the young calf slaughter policy is ethically acceptable? Is it morally acceptable to allow cows to calve and then immediately to destroy the newly born male calves?

How would the Council respond to the suggestion that it would be better to have some type of 'calf production quota' by analogy with the milk quota, which would be more efficient from both an economic and ethical viewpoint? Moreover the objective expressed in the eleventh recital of the regulation, namely to reduce by about 1 000 000 the number of calves entering red meat production, would be achieved more easily.

Answer (2 July 1997)

In 1986 the Community beef and veal market experienced a crisis due not only to the sector's growth over recent years but also to the consequences of BSE. BSE triggered a crisis in consumer confidence, which upset the balance between supply and demand even further.

The Council adopted a whole series of measures to deal with this crisis: these were designed, on the one hand, to protect consumers' health and, on the other, to support the incomes of producers affected. In the latter area the Council took two decisions, which resulted in a total of ECU 1 350 million being made available for those producers.

The Council also adopted measures to act on the level of supply and so help improve conditions on the beef and veal market. It accordingly confirmed the calf processing premium provided for in the basic Regulation, keeping it as an optional measure for Member States. It also introduced an early marketing premium for calves, which is likewise optional for Member States. It is thus for the latter to choose between the two options according to their assessment of the ethical, economic and farming aspects of the question at national level.

As far as annual import quotas for bovine animals from Central and Eastern European countries are concerned, the Council would point out that these quotas were established under the European Association Agreements concluded with those countries in order gradually to integrate their markets into the Community market in preparation for accession.

The Council would also point out that it has already accepted that in addition to short and medium-term measures to improve conditions on the beef and veal market, a more thoroughgoing reform of the CMO in beef and veal is necessary. It is awaiting the Commission's proposals to that effect, which should be submitted shortly. One clear aim of that reform will be to bring the supply of beef and veal in the Union into line with the probable long-term level of internal and external demand, while making sure that the Union continues to be able to meet its international obligations.