Allister presses Commission on Detail of Brazilian Beef Ban
22 January 2008
During an exchange with the Commission in the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament on the steps being taken towards restricting Brazilian beef imports, Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister pressed the Commission on just how serious it was about holding Brazil to the qualifying criteria set. "Given 12 FVO negative inspections, followed by Commission inaction and fresh breathing spaces each time for Brazil, why", asked Mr Allister, "should we be convinced that an effective ban will indeed result?"
It emerged that the Commission intends to identify with Brazil more than 300 holdings from which exports will be permitted if they meet the stipulated criteria. However, the testing of whether they comply will be based on EU sample inspections on as few as 20-30 holdings. Given that some of these holdings might have as many as 100,000 head of cattle, Mr Allister expressed concern at the adequacy of this level of inspection. "On past performance we've let Brazil make a nonsense of EU requirements, so I for one remain to be convinced that we will see rigorous holding to EU standards under the implementation of the precautionary ban being introduced", said the MEP.
ENDS
