July 19, 2007

Irish heats up the fight to get Brazilian beef banned from EU

The effort to get Brazilian beef banned from the EU went up a notch this week after a EC panel dismissed claims that Brazilian beef should be banned for safety reasons.

The ICSMA (Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association), the Irish representatives of Farmers for Fairness in Europe (FFE), said it would formally complain both the European Commission and the Council of the European Union to the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, on grounds of maladministration leading to 'real and substantial risk to human and animal health'.

The complaint charged that the failure to ban beef imports from Brazil is in breach of EC Law.

The complaint will also argue that the question of Brazilian imports and the strict regulations placed on EU farmers was an infringement of the rights of European farmers.

The complaint is to be issued in the name of FFE and the presidents of the 12 associated farm organizations.

The European Ombudsman functions in a similar way to the ombudsmen in member states. The Ombudsman must now undertake a full investigation of all the reports drawn up by the Commission to settle the issue. The report must then be presented with recommendations to the European Parliament.

The FFE feels that reports by the Food and Veterinary Office and the fact that both US and Australia have banned Brazilian beef would compel the Ombudsman to recommend a ban.