Is hormone-treated beef really a ‘red line’ the Commission will not cross?

31.3.2015

Question for written answer E-005477-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Nicolas Bay (NI) , Aymeric Chauprade (NI) , Sylvie Goddyn (NI) , Lorenzo Fontana (NI) , Marie-Christine Arnautu (NI) , Franz Obermayr (NI) , Marcel de Graaff (NI) , Vicky Maeijer (NI) , Olaf Stuger (NI) , Bruno Gollnisch (NI) , Gilles Lebreton (NI) , Jean-François Jalkh (NI) , Sophie Montel (NI) , Dominique Bilde (NI) , Marie-Christine Boutonnet (NI)

With customs barriers between the US and the European Union having almost all been removed or significantly reduced over the past few years, promoters of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have clearly announced that their main objective now is the removal of ‘non-tariff barriers’, meaning all the rules and regulations that the ultra-liberal negotiators of this treaty see as obstacles to free trade.

If it were to come into force, the TTIP would therefore oblige Member States of the European Union to accept imports of cheap North American agribusiness products: hormone-treated beef, animal carcasses sprayed with lactic acid, poultry washed in bleach, meat containing added ractopamine hydrochloride, GMOs, animals fed on animal meal, and products containing pesticides and other toxic additives whose use is banned in Europe.

Yet, speaking on a programme broadcast on France’s TV5 Monde on 16 June 2013, two days after the Council approved the Commission’s mandate to negotiate the TTIP, Commissioner Karel de Gucht said that importing hormone-treated beef was a ‘red line’ that could not be crossed.

Can the Commission confirm this now and provide us with a written assurance to this effect?