EURO BRIEFS
EURO BRIEFS
• THE Irish government has won a k22m (£14m) pay-out from a consortium of insurers and brokers in respect of intervention beef it held at a UMP plant in Ballaghaderreen in 1992. The meat, worth k25m (£16m), was destroyed by fire and the insurers refused to pay out. Under the settlement, both sides must meet their own costs.
• RUSSIA has moved a step closer to developing a fully functioning land market, following a convincing vote by the Duma (lower house) in favour of allowing private agricultural land sales by Russian citizens. Foreigners are likely to be banned from owning land, but are able to lease it for up to 49 years. The Bill now progresses for a second reading.
• EUROPEAN farmers group COPA has lodged a formal complaint with the EU over recent acts of vandalism by French farmers against imports of Spanish fruit and vegetables. "These actions undermine the proper functioning of the internal market and strike a blow at the free movement of goods," it says in a statement.
• FRENCH farmers staged a major protest in Paris on Wednesday (June 26) against the recent imprisonment of leading radical and anti-globalisation campaigner Jose Bove. Last week, Mr Bove started a three-month sentence for wrecking a McDonalds restaurant in 1999.
• A DELEGATION of 49 Polish young farmers arrived in Brussels last week, having cycled from Warsaw to press the case for a better deal from ongoing enlargement negotiations. They were met in Brussels by EU enlargement commissioner Gunther Verheugen before cycling out to nearby Leuven to meet Belgian young farmers. *