20-22 September Agriculture ministers informal

THE EU agriculture ministers' biannual informal meeting in St Wolfgang, Austria, which was intended to focus on rural development and forestry issues, was in the event dominated by revelations of Portugal's growing BSE crisis.AGRICULTURE Commissioner Franz Fischler said that a highly critical report on the Portuguese beef industry prepared over the summer by EU veterinary inspectors had highlighted clear breaches of the Union's ban on feeding cattle with meat and bone-meal, a practice linked to the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). In the light of this report, and the growing incidence of BSE in Portugal, Fischler said that the European Commission was considering legal action against the country, which may include a ban on all Portuguese beef exports. A final decision will be taken at the end of this month, by which time Lisbon must reply to the questions raised in the veterinary report.MINISTERS also discussed the question of boosting food aid to crisis-torn Russia. In response to calls from French Agriculture Minister Louis le Pensec last week for an increase in aid in order to reduce surplus EU stocks of agricultural produce, Fischler urged caution, warning that this tactic might provoke trade disputes with the US and other countries which export farm products to Russia. The Commissioner also argued that food aid should only be increased if Russia could demonstrate its ability to distribute it efficiently. "We need to avoid food aid going to unclear channels," he said.