WRITTEN QUESTION E-0090/01 by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission. Cofinancing of anti-BSE measures.
Date: 2001-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Spain, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, disease prevention, economic consequence, family farming

C 187 E/178

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

(2001/C 187 E/190)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0090/01

by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: Cofinancing of anti-BSE measures

The decisions adopted by the EU Council of Ministers under the plan to eradicate BSE and fight its spread
to humans are being applied by the fifteen Member States with varying degrees of effectiveness. Some of
these measures, such as the transportation of carcasses and the destruction of at-risk material, are leading
in a number of Spanish regions, given the repercussions of the costs on stockbreeders, to the further
impoverishment of an already disadvantaged sector: farming is essentially based on the family model, while
the national and regional governments appear unable to meet the costs of implementing the Union(cid:146)s
measures.

Does the Commission intend to provide extraordinary funding with a view to the cofinancing of measures
such as incineration, transportation, testing (analysis and acquisition) and construction or equipment of
reference laboratories and incinerators, so as to ensure that these costs do not have direct repercussions (cid:129)
as is already happening in some cases (cid:129) on the stockbreeders themselves and that the measures are
properly implemented and succeed in restoring a climate of confidence among European consumers?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(21 March 2001)

The Commission is already cofinancing a significant percentage of the cost of this crisis, for example via
a specific purchase scheme introduced by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2777/2000 of 18 December
2000 adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market (1), by funding the purchase of rapid
diagnostic tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and by applying the public intervention
regime to the common organisation of the market in beef and veal.

The financial impact of this series of measures is currently estimated at almost € 1 billion.

As part of an initial supplementary and amending budget for 2001, the Commission has asked the
budgetary authority to release the sums placed in reserve (€ 60 million) for the funding of further testing.

Current budgetary and legal circumstances do not allow the Commission to become involved in funding
new measures such as incineration or the transportation of carcasses.

(1) OJ L 321, 19.12.2000.

(2001/C 187 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0091/01

by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: BSE: large-scale dumping of carcasses and fodder in Mes(cid:237)a (Galicia, Spain)

The recently-discovered, open and visible dumping of cattle carcasses in Galicia has brought about a general
collapse of consumer confidence in the measures adopted at EU level to combat BSE, and also relates to
the even more disturbing phenomenon of the further impoverishment of the already disadvantaged
stockbreeding sector: in Galicia, almost all farming is family-based, and the sector is not prepared for the
grave crisis produced by the appearance of BSE-infected livestock.

The only treatment given to the carcasses dumped has been the administration of quicklime. This act of
dumping was, furthermore, preceded by the dumping of over 50 tonnes of fodder of animal origin.