EUROPEAN COMMISSION:THE EUROPEAN Commission has said it cannot provide any EU compensation to pig farmers or pork processors suffering from the crisis caused by dioxin contamination.
"There is no basis on which we can pay out money to compensate people from European funds for destroying the meat," said a commission spokesman yesterday.
Under the rules governing the disbursement of EU emergency funds, compensation from the EU budget can only be paid to farmers and processors if they have to destroy stock due to an animal disease. This enabled farmers to benefit from EU aid during the BSE crisis, which affected Britain, Ireland and a host of other EU states during the mid-1990s.
But the commission confirmed yesterday there was no "legal base" for providing compensation to farmers or processors following a contamination event such as the one that occurred in Ireland.
"In Belgium, in 1999, during a similar event all compensation provided to farmers and processors was national money," said a commission spokesman.
"The idea of the commission sending some European money is not a possibility."
Taoiseach Brian Cowen had suggested on Monday that the Government would attempt to salvage the crisis-hit pork industry by applying to the EU for compensation. But the commission's clarification of the EU rules suggests that any aid package will have to be paid for from the national exchequer.
Speaking yesterday in the Dáil, however, Mr Cowen said it was not correct to suggest that support was turned down.
"An official from the European Commission has outlined its position. We are in discussion with processors to devise the parameters of a general scheme which will be submitted to the EU," he added. "I am confident that private storage will receive assistance. We will make the case for other aspects of the scheme to help processors once this is agreed."
EU rules provide for three different types of State aid to be provided in these circumstances to farmers and processors. Farmers can be offered €7,500 aid over a three-year period by the Government without seeing EU approval.
Processors and retailers are also eligible for up to €200,000 in compensation in State aid. But if the contamination is judged an "exceptional circumstance" the Government can provide 100 per cent compensation to farmers and processors, said the spokesman.
Bulgaria became the 13th EU state to notify the commission that it had intercepted a consignment of pork from Ireland that was contaminated. The commission has also asked Britain to urgently update it on the actions that it is taking to ensure contaminated pork products produced in the North did not enter the food chain.
Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authority is preparing its scientific assessment on the risks for human health related to the possible presence of dioxins in pigmeat and pigmeat products from Ireland. It will also evaluate any risks posed by the presence of contaminated pigmeat products from Ireland in composite foods. The assessment will be published today, according to its website.