BETA


1996/2130(INI) Allegations of infringements or maladministration in the application of Community law on BSE

Progress: Procedure completed

Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 208

Events

1997/02/18
   EP - Debate in Parliament
Details

Stressing that the Committee of Inquiry, far from being a court of law, was actually intended to establish the responsibilities of the various institutions, the rapporteur, Mr Medina Ortega, related one of the more striking conclusions of the inquiry report: responsibility for the BSE affair was apparently shared between the Member States and the European institutions. The rapporteur particularly reproached the Commission for not having adopted the necessary measures, for example not having used the possibilities offered by Article 36 or, even worse, threatening to bring an action before the Court of Justice against those Member States which had sought to use the exceptions provided for by said article. As for the evidence of the Commission’s incredible weakness, he cited the example of the agreement to lift the gelatine embargo, under pressure from British veto threats. Mr Ortega was not any kinder towards the Council whose decision-making procedures, particularly within the scientific committees, should have been modified. Finally, he argued for greater transparency and increased security to the benefit of citizens, for a modification of the health protection structures and, last but not least, for immediate and more constructive collaboration between Parliament and the Commission on public health. For the Commission President, Mr Böge, there had been a mixture of ignorance and misjudgement in the BSE case. While acknowledging that the omissions made in the 1980s and 1990s must be judged differently given the new scientific findings, he too cited the phoney debate on gelatine and the Commission’s strategic mistake in misinforming Parliament by proceeding in a selective manner. Addressing President Santer, Mr Happart (PSE, BE) gave him a choice: either dishonour or resignation. In his opinion, the Commission should assume its political responsibility and the officials responsible should be punished. This was even more urgent as the Commission had just approved the import of genetically modified maize and the marketing of medicinal products whose harmlessness was not proven. Finally, the speaker justified his action in tabling a motion of censure, on which Parliament should decide on Thursday 20 February, as this fell within the exercise of Members’ prerogatives. While acknowledging that mistakes had been made, including by the Commission, President Santer preferred ‘to keep a sense of proportion’ and invited Parliament to learn from the crisis together with the Commission. Among the reforms which he then announced were two essential ones: - Parliament’s greater involvement in the future in the decision-making process; this would include priority recourse to Article 100a (codecision) for proposals on veterinary and plant health issues and support for the proposal, presented to the IGC, to submit all legislative decisions to codecision, including in the area of the CAP; - the allocation of genuine responsibility for health to the Community by improving coordination powers and the possibility of carrying out the necessary harmonisations, also through codecision. As for the criticisms made by Parliament, Mr Santer tended to reject these and replied as follows to President Böge: - with regard to the United Kingdom which had continued to demand the lifting of the embargo, his reply had been polite but firm: no. He added that the embargo on gelatine of British origin was still total and that, as things currently stood, the Commission was not prepared to alter its intransigent attitude; - with regard to the Committee of Inquiry, the Commission had not prevented anything; in fact, on the contrary, it had forwarded all the documents requested, totalling thousands of pages, and Mr Böge had been able to consult the highly confidential files in situ. Finally, Mr Santer detailed the comprehensive reorganisation of the departments within the Commission – which would not prevent disciplinary proceedings being brought against officials who had been responsible in the past for the sectors responsible for controls – and, by recommending a real revolution in the way that food and agriculture were dealt with, he encouraged the organisation of two conferences: one scientific on animal meal and the other interdisciplinary on food and health. Throughout the debate, the main political groups took two opposing views: - there were the supporters of a motion of censure, which would be voted on in November at the latest, in the absence of real and comprehensive reform of the Commission structures, which included the PSE, EPP, UEN, ELDR and also the GREENS who proposed a similar solution, which they termed ‘censure with deferment’; - then there were the supporters of immediate censure, which was favoured by the GUE/NGL and ARE, in addition to 70 other Members, all groups combined, having signed the motion tabled by Mr Happart.

1997/02/18
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Documents
1997/02/18
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
1997/02/06
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
1997/02/06
   EP - Vote in committee
1996/12/17
   CSL - Debate in Council
Documents
1996/12/17
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/12/05
   CSL - Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council
1996/12/05
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/11/18
   CSL - Debate in Council
Details

On the basis of a report presented by the UK Minister, the Council took stock of the progress made in implementing the measures that had been decided on by the UK in order to eradicate BSE, the aim being to fulfil the various conditions set for the lifting of the embargo on British beef and on certain beef-based products. The Council also took note of the information that was presented by Commissioner FISCHLER on recent work undertaken by the Scientific Committees that had been set up by the Commission, especially with regard to gelatine.

Documents
1996/11/18
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/11/12
   CSL - Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council
1996/11/12
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/10/07
   CSL - Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council
1996/10/07
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/07/22
   CSL - Debate in Council
Details

The Council acknowledged a note from the French delegation calling on the Commission to investigate possible additional measures that the EU should adopt in order to prevent and monitor bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This mainly concerned the implementation of a continuous surveillance system for transmissible BSE, together with the exclusion from the human and animal food chain of tissue likely to contain the pathogenic agent. The UK delegation expressed its support for this approach. Commissioner FISCHLER pointed out that the Commission had submitted the French delegation’s recommendations to the opinion of the Veterinary Scientific Committee and to the recently appointed Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee, the aim being to examine all the technical measures needed to reassure consumers of beef and other meats and to protect their health in an efficient manner, using scientific data as a basis. It was important to initiate a Community approach based on several technical procedures, while at the same time avoiding isolated national measures. At the end of its deliberations the Council took note of the general direction that the Commission would be taking on this matter and called on the latter to present the authorities concerned with all the additional measures that the Scientific Committees would judge necessary in order to prevent any risk of BSE transmission.

Documents
1996/07/22
   CSL - Council Meeting
1996/07/18
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
1996/07/10
   ESC - Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report

Documents

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

events/8/docs
  • url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-4-1997-02-18-TOC_EN.html title: Debate in Parliament
docs/0
date
1996-07-10T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
body
ESC
docs/0
date
1996-07-10T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
body
ESC
docs/1/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1997-0020_EN.html
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1997-0020_EN.html
events/0/type
Old
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
New
Committee referral announced in Parliament
events/7/type
Old
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
New
Vote in committee
events/9
date
1997-02-18T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1997-0020_EN.html title: A4-0020/1997
events/9
date
1997-02-18T00:00:00
type
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body
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docs
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procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 208
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 0198
docs/0/docs/1/url
Old
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:1996:295:SOM:EN:HTML
New
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1996:295:TOC
docs/1
date
1997-02-06T00:00:00
docs
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
docs/1
date
1997-02-06T00:00:00
docs
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
events/9/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1997-20&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1997-0020_EN.html
activities
  • date: 1996-07-18T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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  • date: 1996-10-07T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1952
  • date: 1996-11-12T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Health meeting_id: 1961
  • body: CSL meeting_id: 1963 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1963*&MEET_DATE=18/11/1996 type: Debate in Council title: 1963 council: Agriculture and Fisheries date: 1996-11-18T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
  • date: 1996-12-05T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1976
  • body: CSL meeting_id: 1980 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1980*&MEET_DATE=17/12/1996 type: Debate in Council title: 1980 council: Agriculture and Fisheries date: 1996-12-17T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
  • date: 1997-02-06T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 1997-02-18T00:00:00 body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1997-20&language=EN type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: A4-0020/1997 type: Debate in Parliament
committees
    council
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Agriculture and Fisheries meeting_id: 1980 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1980*&MEET_DATE=17/12/1996 date: 1996-12-17T00:00:00
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1976 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1976*&MEET_DATE=05/12/1996 date: 1996-12-05T00:00:00
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Agriculture and Fisheries meeting_id: 1963 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1963*&MEET_DATE=18/11/1996 date: 1996-11-18T00:00:00
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Health meeting_id: 1961 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1961*&MEET_DATE=12/11/1996 date: 1996-11-12T00:00:00
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1952 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1952*&MEET_DATE=07/10/1996 date: 1996-10-07T00:00:00
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Agriculture and Fisheries meeting_id: 1944 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1944*&MEET_DATE=22/07/1996 date: 1996-07-22T00:00:00
    docs
    • date: 1996-07-10T00:00:00 docs: url: https://dm.eesc.europa.eu/EESCDocumentSearch/Pages/redresults.aspx?k=(documenttype:AC)(documentnumber:0888)(documentyear:1996)(documentlanguage:EN) title: CES0888/1996 url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:1996:295:SOM:EN:HTML title: OJ C 295 07.10.1996, p. 0055 summary: type: Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report body: ESC
    • date: 1997-02-06T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1997-20&language=EN title: A4-0020/1997 url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1997:085:TOC title: OJ C 085 17.03.1997, p. 0003 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
    events
    • date: 1996-07-18T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
    • date: 1996-07-22T00:00:00 type: Debate in Council body: CSL docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1944*&MEET_DATE=22/07/1996 title: 1944 summary: The Council acknowledged a note from the French delegation calling on the Commission to investigate possible additional measures that the EU should adopt in order to prevent and monitor bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This mainly concerned the implementation of a continuous surveillance system for transmissible BSE, together with the exclusion from the human and animal food chain of tissue likely to contain the pathogenic agent. The UK delegation expressed its support for this approach. Commissioner FISCHLER pointed out that the Commission had submitted the French delegation’s recommendations to the opinion of the Veterinary Scientific Committee and to the recently appointed Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee, the aim being to examine all the technical measures needed to reassure consumers of beef and other meats and to protect their health in an efficient manner, using scientific data as a basis. It was important to initiate a Community approach based on several technical procedures, while at the same time avoiding isolated national measures. At the end of its deliberations the Council took note of the general direction that the Commission would be taking on this matter and called on the latter to present the authorities concerned with all the additional measures that the Scientific Committees would judge necessary in order to prevent any risk of BSE transmission.
    • date: 1996-10-07T00:00:00 type: Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council body: CSL
    • date: 1996-11-12T00:00:00 type: Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council body: CSL
    • date: 1996-11-18T00:00:00 type: Debate in Council body: CSL docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1963*&MEET_DATE=18/11/1996 title: 1963 summary: On the basis of a report presented by the UK Minister, the Council took stock of the progress made in implementing the measures that had been decided on by the UK in order to eradicate BSE, the aim being to fulfil the various conditions set for the lifting of the embargo on British beef and on certain beef-based products. The Council also took note of the information that was presented by Commissioner FISCHLER on recent work undertaken by the Scientific Committees that had been set up by the Commission, especially with regard to gelatine.
    • date: 1996-12-05T00:00:00 type: Resolution/conclusions adopted by Council body: CSL
    • date: 1996-12-17T00:00:00 type: Debate in Council body: CSL docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1980*&MEET_DATE=17/12/1996 title: 1980
    • date: 1997-02-06T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary:
    • date: 1997-02-18T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP summary: Stressing that the Committee of Inquiry, far from being a court of law, was actually intended to establish the responsibilities of the various institutions, the rapporteur, Mr Medina Ortega, related one of the more striking conclusions of the inquiry report: responsibility for the BSE affair was apparently shared between the Member States and the European institutions. The rapporteur particularly reproached the Commission for not having adopted the necessary measures, for example not having used the possibilities offered by Article 36 or, even worse, threatening to bring an action before the Court of Justice against those Member States which had sought to use the exceptions provided for by said article. As for the evidence of the Commission’s incredible weakness, he cited the example of the agreement to lift the gelatine embargo, under pressure from British veto threats. Mr Ortega was not any kinder towards the Council whose decision-making procedures, particularly within the scientific committees, should have been modified. Finally, he argued for greater transparency and increased security to the benefit of citizens, for a modification of the health protection structures and, last but not least, for immediate and more constructive collaboration between Parliament and the Commission on public health. For the Commission President, Mr Böge, there had been a mixture of ignorance and misjudgement in the BSE case. While acknowledging that the omissions made in the 1980s and 1990s must be judged differently given the new scientific findings, he too cited the phoney debate on gelatine and the Commission’s strategic mistake in misinforming Parliament by proceeding in a selective manner. Addressing President Santer, Mr Happart (PSE, BE) gave him a choice: either dishonour or resignation. In his opinion, the Commission should assume its political responsibility and the officials responsible should be punished. This was even more urgent as the Commission had just approved the import of genetically modified maize and the marketing of medicinal products whose harmlessness was not proven. Finally, the speaker justified his action in tabling a motion of censure, on which Parliament should decide on Thursday 20 February, as this fell within the exercise of Members’ prerogatives. While acknowledging that mistakes had been made, including by the Commission, President Santer preferred ‘to keep a sense of proportion’ and invited Parliament to learn from the crisis together with the Commission. Among the reforms which he then announced were two essential ones: - Parliament’s greater involvement in the future in the decision-making process; this would include priority recourse to Article 100a (codecision) for proposals on veterinary and plant health issues and support for the proposal, presented to the IGC, to submit all legislative decisions to codecision, including in the area of the CAP; - the allocation of genuine responsibility for health to the Community by improving coordination powers and the possibility of carrying out the necessary harmonisations, also through codecision. As for the criticisms made by Parliament, Mr Santer tended to reject these and replied as follows to President Böge: - with regard to the United Kingdom which had continued to demand the lifting of the embargo, his reply had been polite but firm: no. He added that the embargo on gelatine of British origin was still total and that, as things currently stood, the Commission was not prepared to alter its intransigent attitude; - with regard to the Committee of Inquiry, the Commission had not prevented anything; in fact, on the contrary, it had forwarded all the documents requested, totalling thousands of pages, and Mr Böge had been able to consult the highly confidential files in situ. Finally, Mr Santer detailed the comprehensive reorganisation of the departments within the Commission – which would not prevent disciplinary proceedings being brought against officials who had been responsible in the past for the sectors responsible for controls – and, by recommending a real revolution in the way that food and agriculture were dealt with, he encouraged the organisation of two conferences: one scientific on animal meal and the other interdisciplinary on food and health. Throughout the debate, the main political groups took two opposing views: - there were the supporters of a motion of censure, which would be voted on in November at the latest, in the absence of real and comprehensive reform of the Commission structures, which included the PSE, EPP, UEN, ELDR and also the GREENS who proposed a similar solution, which they termed ‘censure with deferment’; - then there were the supporters of immediate censure, which was favoured by the GUE/NGL and ARE, in addition to 70 other Members, all groups combined, having signed the motion tabled by Mr Happart.
    • date: 1997-02-18T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1997-20&language=EN title: A4-0020/1997
    • date: 1997-02-18T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
    links
    other
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Former Council configuration
    procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
    Old
    ENQU/4/08077
    New
    • ENQU/4/08077
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure EP 0198
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 019
    procedure/subject
    Old
    • 3.10.08.05 Animal diseases
    • 8.50.01 Implementation of EU law
    New
    3.10.08.05
    Animal diseases
    8.50.01
    Implementation of EU law
    activities
    • date: 1996-07-18T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
    • body: CSL meeting_id: 1944 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1944*&MEET_DATE=22/07/1996 type: Debate in Council title: 1944 council: Agriculture and Fisheries date: 1996-07-22T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
    • date: 1996-10-07T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1952
    • date: 1996-11-12T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Health meeting_id: 1961
    • body: CSL meeting_id: 1963 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1963*&MEET_DATE=18/11/1996 type: Debate in Council title: 1963 council: Agriculture and Fisheries date: 1996-11-18T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
    • date: 1996-12-05T00:00:00 body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Research meeting_id: 1976
    • body: CSL meeting_id: 1980 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=1980*&MEET_DATE=17/12/1996 type: Debate in Council title: 1980 council: Agriculture and Fisheries date: 1996-12-17T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
    • date: 1997-02-06T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
    • date: 1997-02-18T00:00:00 body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1997-20&language=EN type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: A4-0020/1997 type: Debate in Parliament
    committees
      links
      other
      • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Former Council configuration
      procedure
      dossier_of_the_committee
      ENQU/4/08077
      reference
      1996/2130(INI)
      title
      Allegations of infringements or maladministration in the application of Community law on BSE
      legal_basis
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 019
      stage_reached
      Procedure completed
      subtype
      Special committee/Committee of inquiry
      type
      INI - Own-initiative procedure
      subject