WRITTEN QUESTION E-2210/01 by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. BSE risk from adulterated butter.
Date: 2001-07-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, analytical chemistry, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, butter, food contamination, fraud, public health

14.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 40 E/219

(2002/C 40 E/236)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2208/01

by Carlos Coelho (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 July 2001)

Subject: Discrimination

Having received a letter from a Portuguese citizen asking for help in clarifying a situation which he
considers to be unfair and, indeed, discriminatory, the author of this question asks the Commission to state
whether it believes there is any basis for this view.

The Portuguese citizen concerned is aged 33 and suffers from a motor deficiency in his lower limbs (he
contracted polio at 14). He submitted his candidacy under recruitment competition EUR/C/160/2000 for
Portuguese-language typists. His application was refused on the grounds that he did not have four years(cid:146)
professional experience subsequent to having obtained his general secondary education qualification (see
dossier PERS/SC/DQ/CB-No 112 250).

He has twelve years(cid:146) unbroken professional experience as a typist for the Lisbon city council. However,
owing to force of circumstance (the constraints arising from his disability, such as the need to spend
periods in physical rehabilitation centres and the lack of support structures for persons in his situation), he
was only very recently able to complete his studies. He therefore wishes to know the reasons for the
existence of a condition under which a person with four years(cid:146) professional experience following
completion of his studies is considered better qualified than another person with twelve years(cid:146) professional
experience in the category for which he is competing, for a public body, simply because one of them
completed his studies after having acquired the professional experience. He is deeply distressed at the
fashion in which he was excluded, since while the Member States receive Community funds aimed at
promoting education, reducing educational failure rates and stimulating vocational training, an institution
such as the EU applies rules to exclude candidates which he feels are extremely unfair, discriminatory and
contrary to those same objectives.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2001)

The Honourable Member refers to the inter-institutional open competition EUR/C/160/2000, organised
jointly by the Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in order
to recruit Portuguese-language typists.

The Parliament is the Appointing Authority in this case, and the Parliament consequently has sole
responsibility for the organisation of this competition. The Commission is therefore unable to comment
further on this matter and suggests that the Honourable Member addresses the question to the General
Secretariat of the Parliament.

(2002/C 40 E/237)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2210/01

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(24 July 2001)

Subject: BSE risk from adulterated butter

Between 1995 and mid-2000 members of the Italian Mafia were adulterating butter on a large scale by
adding animal and vegetable fats and chemical substances and selling it through Belgian, French and Italian
companies. A total of at least 35 000 tonnes of this adulterated product were produced in Italy, and are
said to have been extended by its purchasers by further admixture to over 100 000 tonnes and processed
mainly in bakery products. Subsidies of probably over 100 m Euro were claimed from the Community
budget for this purpose.

C 40 E/220

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.2.2002

According to official details given by the Italian State Prosecutor(cid:146)s Office on 20 March 2001 the
adulterated butter was produced using substantial quantities of fats produced by rendering plant from
cattle brains, bones and intestines, i.e. specified risk material for the transmission of BSE.

Can the Commission explain why, in its annual Report for 2000 on the fight against fraud, published
1.
on 23 May 2001, it nevertheless claimed that experts had so far not established any direct hazard to
consumers(cid:146) health?

2. Why, in its answer of 6 June 2001 to my Written Question P-1506/01 (1) did it give the impression
of being unaware of the Italian State Prosecutor(cid:146)s Office(cid:146)s press statement of 20 March 2001?

3.
Does the Commission still maintain its view that it acted correctly when, in summer 2000, it did not
make public the first indications of a possible health hazard, and concealed the names of the companies
which had processed the adulterated butter?

(1) OJ C 318 E, 13.11.2001, p. 244.

Answer by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(20 September 2001)

1.
The Commission is closely monitoring developments in this matter, especially as regards public
health protection. It is continuing to press the national authorities to inform it of the results of analyses of
the adulterated butter. Although the Naples State Prosecutor(cid:146)s Office did point to the health risk at the
time, no firm evidence was produced. The Commission had no information in the summer of 2000 (cid:129) and
has not received any to this day (cid:129) that might enable it to assess the potential risk to public health. So far
only the Belgian authorities have confirmed that no traces of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organic
chlorine compounds or heavy metals have been found in the samples. Given the information available
when it published its annual report for 2000 on protection of the financial interests of the European
Communities and the fight against fraud, it therefore ruled out a direct health threat to consumers.

As far as the admixture of risk material for the transmission of BSE is concerned, the Commission
acknowledges that this can only be ruled out from 1 October 2000, as that is the date after which all risk
material (skulls including brain and eyes, tonsils, spinal chord, spleen and ileum) have to be destroyed
throughout the Community. The Commission would point out that it proposed this measure as early as
1997 but that the Council refused to adopt it until June 2000.

The date of the second press release from the Naples State Prosecutor(cid:146)s Office, to which the
2.
Commission referred in its answer to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s written question P-1506/01, is indeed
20 March 2001 (not December 2000).

The Commission maintains the view it set out in its answer to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s written

3.
question E-3241/00 on the non-disclosure of the names of the firms.

(2002/C 40 E/238)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2215/01

by Mar(cid:237)a Sornosa Mart(cid:237)nez (PSE) to the Commission

(24 July 2001)

Subject: Standardisation of emergency lights

Previous references: E-3022/00 (1) and E-4033/00 (2).

Since September 2000 the author of this question has been pointing out to the Commission and the
Council that in Spain the colour of emergency lights on vehicles is not currently in line with the rest of the