WRITTEN QUESTION E-1165/02

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(23 April 2002)

Subject: Failure to implement the 2001 animal health campaign for livestock in Galicia; Galician Government's dismissal of 129 vets employed in the scheme

The Galician Association of Livestock Veterinarians (AVESGA) reports that the Galician Government has not implemented the animal health campaign for livestock in Galicia planned for 2001. The reasons are to be found in the reduction in the number of veterinary surgeons involved, from the 150 needed for the campaign to only 129, because of the failure to replace vets unfit for work, and in the fact that some of those vets spent the first six months of the year issuing certificates in the wake of the mad cow crisis. In addition, on 31 December 2001 all the vets responsible for carrying out the campaign were dismissed, and the Government prevented them from bringing any of their work to a conclusion. The Galician Government ended the employment relationship with the vets after the Employment and Social Security Inspectorate in response to complaints from the vets regarding the precarious terms on which they were working ordered the Galician Government to draw up contracts of employment to put an end to the earlier irregular situation in which they had been working for the Galician Government for some years. Even though the Galician Court of Justice itself recognised the existence of an employment relationship in January 2002, the Government refused to accept it. The conduct of the Galician Government, acting through the Directorate-General for Animal Production and Health in the State Secretariat for Agriculture, which has rejected any dialogue, appears to be a form of retaliation, and it does not appear to be concerned at the fact that it may be jeopardising the fulfilment of the targets set for the health campaign. In 2001, 42 % of cattle farms and 41 % of sheep and goat farms had yet to be covered, which means that 335 000 cows and 131 000 sheep did not have the health records required for the movement of animals within Galicia or outside the region, a situation which may have other consequences in health and insurance terms. Moreover, the Galician Government also contracted other professionals, apparently without regard to the conditions laid down in law. The government further used a firm, named TRAGSA, to carry out health-related tasks for which it does not appear to have had the necessary capacity, and many farms were not processed at all.

Is the Commission, and specifically its Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection and the Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, aware of these irregularities on the part of the Galician Government's State Secretariat for Agriculture, which are jeopardising the health campaign for livestock at a time when we are seeing the emergence of new diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy?

What measures is it prepared to take to ensure that the Community animal health programmes affected by this irresponsible conduct are complied with?

Is the Commission aware that the Galician Government's State Secretariat for Agriculture used the cancellation of the employment relationship and disciplinary sanctions against veterinary professionals whose claims have been accepted by the courts and refused by the Government, to the extent that they did not receive their salaries on time as an opportunity to favour TRAGSA, an inexperienced private firm, to the detriment of the animal health programme being carried out as part of Community programmes?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(11 June 2002)

Current Community legislation includes several provisions on eradication programmes co-financed with Community funds.

Council Decision 90/424/EEC of 26 June 1990 on expenditure in the veterinary field(1) provides for the possibility of financial participation by the Community in the eradication and monitoring of animal diseases and for checks aimed at the prevention of zoonoses. Each year Member States submit programmes for the eradication of animal diseases and for the

prevention of zoonoses in their countries. After examination of the programmes, if they are found to comply with Council Decision 90/638/EEC of 27 November 1990 laying down Community criteria for the eradication and monitoring of certain animal diseases(2), these programmes are approved by the Commission and the rate of Community financial contribution is fixed.

Commission Decision 2000/774/EC of 30 November 2000 approved the programmes for the eradication and monitoring of animal diseases and for the prevention of zoonoses presented for the year 2001 by the Member States(3). Article 48 of the Decision provides that the financial contribution of the Community for the programmes shall be granted subject to requirements related to national legislation and sets a calendar for reports to the Commission. These reports include the technical and financial preliminary report, intermediate reports after the end of each reporting period, and a final report by 1 June 2002 at the latest, on the technical execution of the programme accompanied by justifying evidence of the costs incurred and the results attained during the period from 1 January to 31 December 2001.

The Spanish authorities sent the preliminary and technical evaluation of the approved programmes and also the intermediate reports on time. The Final Report, including information for the whole year of 2001, must be sent by 1 June 2002. The final assessment of the Spanish programmes will be done in the light of the final report. This assessment will include a thorough examination of the concerns raised by the Honourable Member.

Reimbursement of funds is also subject to the evaluation by the Commission of reports from the Food and Veterinary Office, which is responsible for carrying out on-the-spot inspections, financial inspections carried out by the Commission and also the outcome of the visits of the Task Force on eradication programmes.

Community measures, in case of non-fulfilment of relevant aspects of the eradication programmes, are foreseen in the above-mentioned legislation (Article 24 of Council Decision 90/424/EEC and Article 52 of Commission Decision 2000/774/EC) and are related to the Community's financial contribution.

(1) OJ L 224, 18.8.1990.

(2) OJ L 347, 12.12.1990.

(3) OJ L 308, 8.12.2000.