EU imposes stronger anti-BSE curbs

Tackling the mad cow crisis could bust the EU's farm budget

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Popular cuts of beef including T-bone and rib-eye steaks are likely to be banned from sale in the EU following a decision by European farm ministers.

The ministers agreed to ban the bovine vertebral column from the human food chain at an overnight meeting in Brussels.

The bovine spinal cord, the primary nerve tissue along with the brain, has long been seen as the breeding and transmission ground for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

Draft measures detailing the ban are to be presented to the next Standing Veterinary Committee meeting.

IN-DEPTH Mad cow disease: Counting the cost   •  The cross-species killer   •  What's off the menu?   •  EU beef consumption   •  BSE cases in Europe   •  Geographical BSE risk   •  One family's nightmare   •  Timeline: Crisis unfolds   •  Recent news   •  Audio/video archive   •  Message board   •  Related sites

The agriculture ministers were told by the EU farm policy chief at the Brussels meeting that the BSE crisis is having much worse effect than previously thought and could stretch the union's agriculture budget to breaking point.

EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler said: "According to the calculations that we have carried out to date, we are at the limit of our (financial) possibilities and have probably already gone beyond the EU budget for member state aid.

"This all leads to the fact that all the budget finance possibilities have been used up."

CNN.com Europe More news from our Europe edition

The cost of the crisis was put at three billion euros (2.75 billion dollars) for 2001 alone, while the surplus available in the EU budget to deal with such crises is just 1.2 billion euros, and already accounted for.

"We really are at the very limit, if not beyond, in terms of what we can finance with the community budget," Fischler said.

ALSO Italian farmers in BSE protest World prepares to repel Europe's disease

"With all the will in the world, and fully recognizing the dire straits of farmers at the moment...we have zero room for manoeuvre."

Exceeding the farm budget, which currently stands at 42 billion euros and already represents half of the total EU budget, would require agreement of all 15 member states, and some have already said they would veto that idea.

Fischler says beef sales in the European Union are down by an average of 27 percent and are still falling.

Many non-EU countries are banning imports from the EU, threatening to create a huge market surplus with no foreseeable outlet, he added.

Kuwait on Tuesday announced a ban on the import of ruminants from all EU states following the latest mad cow disease scares.

The latest BSE scare took hold as a number of EU countries -- previously thought to be almost BSE-free -- recorded new cases. It was sparked by an incident in France where potentially contaminated meat was found in supermarkets.

On Monday, Britain's food safety watchdog announced it was increasing inspections of beef from Germany.

That came after a consignment of imported meat was found to contain spinal cord, one of the "specified risk materials" -- such as brains and nerve tissues -- that are considered key to the cattle disease.

Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. government officials and the farm industry have also met to discuss whether defences against BSE needed to be bolstered.

U.S. regulators are keeping more than 1,000 Texas cattle in quarantine, amid fears the cows may have been exposed to mad cow disease through contaminated feed.

U.S. officials have admitted that, within the past decade, some contaminated feed could have found its way into the country from Europe, but they say U.S. regulations on food safety are strong enough to deal with the matter.

BSE scare threatens EU budget
January 30, 2001
EU considers tighter BSE controls
January 29, 2001
Experts seek to soothe mad cow fears
January 28, 2001
EU tells farmers: No more BSE cash
January 25, 2001
Cost of BSE scare rockets
January 22, 2001

World Health Organization: BSE and vCJD
Institutions of the European Union

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.