WRITTEN QUESTION E-0898/02

by Baroness Sarah Ludford (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 April 2002)

Subject: Export of live cattle to third countries

Three hundred thousand live cattle are exported each year from EU countries to the Middle East and North Africa. This cruel trade is subsidised by the EU through export refunds to traders. These refunds cost European taxpayers 60 to 100 million per year.

Given that the European Parliament has twice (October and November 2001) voted for an end to the payment of these subsidies, can the Commission give any information about what action it has taken towards dismantling this system?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2002)

The Community is a traditional exporter of breeding cattle to a significant number of third countries. Those animals are destined in particular for improving or maintaining the milk production in those countries.

The vast majority of complaints the Commission receives deal with the export of slaughter cattle. Most of the cases that were reported highlight the handling of animals, in particular at places of transhipment, or at arrival in the country of destination and at slaughter.

As far as the conditions of transport are concerned, the Commission should reach the highest possible standard in order to ensure that the welfare conditions are fully implemented and controlled. In this respect the Commission is in the process of reinforcing the conditions for the granting of the export refund. The strengthening of these conditions is specifically aiming at eliminating the unacceptable circumstances of the cases that were reported.

The Commission will also undertake new initiatives in the light of the opinion adopted on 11 March 2002 by the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare. The scientific opinion addresses a number of important issues such as travelling times and space allowances. The future proposal of the Commission in this field will aim to improve the welfare conditions of all transported animals but with a particular attention for the ones transported over long distances.

The Commission has however not the power to impose the European standards on animal transport, husbandry and slaughter within the purchasing countries. Cultural, religious, as well as economic conditions lead to fundamental differences in the way these countries produce meat.

Moreover, competitors in international trade, such as Australia, have today operational vessels that can transport 25 000 cattle in one journey and towards any destination. Since bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) occurred in 1996, Egypt turned its purchases of slaughter cattle towards Australia. More than 200 000 heads of cattle are imported yearly in Egypt and come from this exporting country.

Despite its limited margin of manoeuvre, the Commission has constantly pursued, in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), its efforts to obtain acceptance of welfare principles in the international context. The Commission will continue to work in this direction during the next round of negotiations.

For the Commission, it is important to decide on this matter taking into consideration all aspects, including the position of its farmers, among which an important number depend on trade, and in particular on export.

Therefore, any decision must strike the right balance between all these different aspects. One of the consequences of the policy followed is that the export refunds for live slaughter cattle have already been reduced substantially during recent years (in 1995 the rate was 78,5 per 100 kilogram (kg); today this rate equals 41 per 100 kg; i.e. a reduction by 48 %).

The Commission's approach as regards export of cattle is aiming to limit subsidisation to the level of what is strictly necessary, bearing in mind the request made by the Parliament to end, as soon as possible, the payment of export refunds for slaughter cattle and to seek the establishment of binding international guidelines governing the treatment of live animals during long-distance transport.