A MAJOR EU conference on rural policy will be held in Cork in November, the Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, announced yesterday following the Commission's meeting with the Government.
The Commissioner said a new approach was needed on rural policy. Farmers needed more off farm work to prevent more people leaving the land.
On BSE, Mr Fischler said the issue was still unresolved and there was still much work to do. That work could begin when Britain brought forward its proposals.
He expected there would be a great deal of beef in EU intervention by autumn at peak production time. "However, I see intervention as only a short to medium term solution to the problems and I will be putting forward proposals later in the year."
Asked if high levels of EU beef in intervention would create GATT difficulties, Mr Fischler said he did not think so.
On beef reform, he could not say if the crisis would lead to the slaughter of over 3 million calves in the EU to rebalance markets. He would be bringing forward proposals covering the area in September. However, he said he did not see beef consumption recovering to pre BSE levels, especially in Germany and Austria.