DATE=1/25/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-271808

TITLE=EU-MAD COW (L-O)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

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INTRO: The European Commission says it has run out of money to fight the mad-cow disease that is sweeping the continent. Correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the Commission is facing pressure from some E-U member governments to aid farmers whose herds have been affected by the disease, but the commission says the funds for such measures will have to come from the governments themselves.

TEXT: The 15 E-U agriculture ministers are to meet Monday in Brussels, and mad-cow disease is at the top of their agenda. Some ministers, notably France's Jean Glavany, are demanding that the E-U open its coffers and give direct aid to the farmers affected by the crisis.

The European Commission says that is impossible. It says member governments have capped E-U agricultural spending despite the high costs of testing and destroying cattle suspected of having mad cow disease.

Spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber - speaking through an interpreter - says the commission cannot afford to cover additional costs.

/// KREUZHUBER INTERPRETER ACT ///

There is some room for maneuver. There is a bit of headroom, so we will spend an extra one-billion euros roughly to finance these drastic measures to deal with mad cow disease. But that is all, because there is no money left.

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Mr. Kreuzhuber says that, if the union's member states want additional measures, it is up to them and the European beef industry to come up with the funds.

Thursday, Italian farmers took to the streets to demand more aid from their government to help them through the mad-cow crisis after a second suspected case was found. In Belgium, the animal health authorities found a third cow suffering from the disease since they stepped up testing at the beginning of the year. And in Portugal, 50-thousand cattle are being slaughtered in an effort to get the European Union to lift a ban on Portuguese meat exports.

The European Union has banned ground animal remains in cattle feed and the consumption of brain and spinal cord. But E-U Health Commissioner David Byrne says member governments have not been strict enough in implementing the E-U controls and checks. (SIGNED)

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