| 05/02/2008
Euroview
By Jonathan Evans, Conservative MEP for Wales
The European Union’s decision to suspend all imports
of Brazilian beef due to the country's unacceptable foot-and-mouth
disease checks is long overdue.
Conservative MEPs have campaigned for 18 months to halt Brazilian
beef imports, echoing British farmers’ concerns that foot
and mouth could be brought into the country again.
Last month, the EU warned that only beef from an authorised list
of Brazilian farms would be allowed into Europe from 31 January
but no agreement was reached on the list, so Brazil has been told
none of its beef can be exported to EU nations.
The country is the world's biggest beef exporter, selling more
than $4bn of beef last year.
EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the
EU could not accept Brazilian claims that a vast number of its farms
are free of the disease and safe for their cattle to be exported
to Europe.
European farmers and MEPs have long raised concerns that Brazilian
beef does not meet the same strict standards laid down for Europe's
farmers.
I am particularly concerned by the large number of farms the Brazilian
government had designated as disease-free, which leads me to question
whether all the farms had been individually inspected and certified,
based on the EU’s assessment of the capacities and capabilities
of the system in Brazil.
The commission will now wait for proof in the form of guarantees
and audit reports, and then holdings with such documentation will
be assessed based on the guarantees or inspected on-site. Those
that pass will be added to a list of farms that can import their
beef to the EU.
The Commission is to be congratulated for taking this action, but
it should have been taken sooner.
We have long said that the precautionary principle should prevail
when talking about the safety of meat imports.
The Commission will have to satisfy the European Parliament that
the traceability of the cattle on these holdings is beyond doubt;
otherwise the ban must remain.
This move must be seen as a wake-up call to the Brazilian government,
which has failed to respond to concerns of the European Union and
ensure their standards of traceability are comparable to those in
Europe.
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