TWO Irish trucks were stopped briefly at a barricade set up by French calf farmers early yesterday, the Irish Embassy in Paris confirmed. Contrary to earlier reports, the farmers did not destroy the beef carried in the trucks.
However, the contents of several Dutch trucks which were carrying veal were destroyed. A spokesman at the French Confederation of Livestock and Meat Enterprises said that Dutch veal was the object of the protest and they had not meant to target Irish meat.
Some 800 calf farmers from southern and western France had arrived at the Rungis meat market south of Paris on Sunday night to demonstrate against a recent EU ruling which set different weight limits for subsidies to calf farmers in France and the Netherlands.
French farmers cannot receive, subsidies on calves over 108kg, while the ceiling is 135kg for Dutch farmers. France and the Netherlands produce most of the veal in the EU.
Mr Jean-Pierre Badaire, of the French Office for Livestock and Poultry, did not hide his sympathy for the calf farmers, although he said the Ministry of Agriculture could not condone their behaviour. "We know their difficulties," he said. "In Ireland your cattle growers had similar problems because, of mad cow disease.
"The calf farmers are faced with unfair competition because of EU policy. French veal producers are penalised because they are forced to sell their calves younger.
The French Ministry of Agriculture has already protested against the policy and will make a further demarche at today's meeting of agriculture ministers in Brussels.
"The farmers have drawn the government's attention to the problem. Now it's up to the truck owners to start legal proceedings if they want to be compensated," said Mr Badaire.
