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Door to US beef exports ajar - Lyon
June 21, 2011 1:55 PM
George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, has pressed the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to drop restrictions on European beef exports brought in after BSE outbreak.
During a four day visit to Washington and New York to lobby senior US politicians, Mr Lyon joined with Chair of the European Agriculture Committee Paolo de Castro to make it clear to Mr Vilsack that European beef is safe and the restrictions placed on exports are unnecessary.
They also discussed a range of other issues including the new farm bill and how to tackle the issue of food security.
Commenting, Mr Lyon said:
"One of the purposes of this visit was to try and prise open the door to European beef that has been closed for too long.
"We may not have succeeded in opening it completely but after a series of productive meetings with senior US politicians it is certainly ajar.
"We also discussed the serious concerns there are about food security and price volatility. We agreed that action needs to be taken to address it in the reforms of both the CAP and the US farm bill both of which are taking place at the same time.
"We were concerned to hear that, due to massive budget pressures, US farmers are likely to see swingeing cuts in Single Farm Payments and a move to relying on crop insurance as the main farm support tool in the future.
"It was agreed that the discussions on reform of agriculture policy in both the EU and US should continue with further meetings planned for the future."
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