Live export trade defended in EU

EU AGRICULTURE commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has issued a staunch defence of the live export trade, rejecting calls from her native Denmark for the elimination of export subsidies on cattle.

The demand was made at this week’s (w/e Apr 29) farm council in Luxembourg by Danish agriculture minister Hans Christian Schmidt, who called for the complete removal of refunds on animals intended for slaughter in the Lebanon and Egypt.

This, he said, was a misuse of EU funds and undermined animal welfare, a position that won the support of Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Luxembourg.

It would be better to export meat, they said.

But ministers from Spain, Hungary, Ireland, France and Poland opposed this view, and insisted that EU rules were sufficient to guarantee the welfare of live animals during transport.

They countered that it was better for the EU to supply live cattle to markets in the Middle East rather than leaving the trade to countries that were further away and had lower standards.