991138 EU to Outline Beef Hormone Proposal SoonNovember 10, 1999Washington - The European Union will outline its idea for resolving a decade-old dispute with the United States over hormone-treated beef in “a few days,” French Agriculuture Minister Jean Glavany said. Speaking with reporters after a meeting with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Glavany also said both countries agreed ahead of upcoming world trade negotiations that nations have a “sovereign” right to subsidize farmers. Earlier this year, the World Trade Organization gave the United States permission to impose $116.8 million in retaliatory duties on EU products because of the EU's continued refusal to lift a ten-year-old ban on beef from cattle raised with artificial growth hormones. In recent weeks, however, U.S. cattlemen have indicated interest in replacing the retaliation with a temporary compensation package from the EU, possibly in the form of increased market access for U.S. beef from cattle raised without growth hormones. Glavany said he was not at liberty to discuss details of the upcoming beef proposal, which EU officials have promised to make before the WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle. But as an EU member, France would support whatever is proposed, he said, speaking through a translator. On another subject, recent U.S. approval of a $8.7 billion aid package for farmers would “not necessarily” hurt the U.S. negotiating position going into the WTO talks, Glavany said. The issue for those negotiations is not whether countries have a right to subsidize their farmers, but which types of subsidies are legitimate, he said.
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