European Union Parliament votes to maintain its1988 ban on the import of hormone-treated beef and other meat products from the US and Canada

The European parliament in Strasbourg voted on Wednesday to approve a deal that effectively ends a more than two-decades-long trade war with the United States and Canada over the imports of hormone-treated beef.

The new deal allows the European Union to keep its ban imposed in 1988 on the import of hormone-treated beef and other meat products from US and Canada in return for increasing its quota for imports of high-quality North American beef that have not been treated with growth hormones

In a 650 to 11 vote with 11 abstentions, European lawmakers approved the deal which sets the annual EU quota for the import of high-quality North American beef from cattle that have not been treated with growth hormones at 48,00 tons.

Although the new deal has been approved by the Council of EU Ministers for it to come into force, the procedure is considered to be a mere formality as the ministers have already the deal their informal approval. The EU member-nations expected to gain most from the lifting of US sanctions are Italy, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, France and Spain.

EU-Digest