Brexit is a blue fluffy monster, according to the Dutch

DutchNews, February 14, 2019

Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok launched a new campaign urging Dutch businesses to get ready for Brexit next month – in which the starring role is given to a hairy blue monster. 

‘Have you checked the consequences Brexit will have for you or your company,’ Blok says on Twitter, while posing next to an office desk. ‘Make sure Brexit does not get in your way.’ 

Heb jij al gecheckt welke gevolgen Brexit voor jou of je bedrijf heeft? Doe de Brexit Impact Scan op https://t.co/eytAlAwphK of kijk op https://t.co/U64nYectmE. Zorg dat Brexit jou niet in de weg zit....of ligt. pic.twitter.com/LWKOLnLPQl

— Stef Blok (@ministerBlok) February 14, 2019

Commenters have asked if Sesame Street character Pino has lost his way or if leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson has had a blue rinse. Others have dismissed the campaign as infantile and embarrassing. 

Website 

The aim of the campaign is to encourage companies to visit the foreign ministry checklist where companies can find out more of the likely impact of Brexit on their operations. 

At the beginning of this month, the Dutch customs office wrote to 72,277 Dutch firms which do business with the UK warning them to make sure they are properly prepared for Brexit. 

The service’s general director Nanette van Schelven told the Financieele Dagblad in an interview it is ‘high time for action’ because many companies are not ready to deal with the consequences. 

The fluffy monster campaign was launched a day after Dutch prime minister warned that a no-deal Brexit will have a ‘devasting’ impact on Britain.

Mark Rutte, with Swiss president Ueli Maurer. Photo: Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP/HH

Related Article:

Dutch PM calls for a realistic, strong Europe, warns of Brexit ‘devastation’

UN notified of name change to North Macedonia

Yahoo – AFP, 13 February 2019

Workers set up a sign reading 'Republic of North Macedonia' at the
Macedonia-Greece border near Gevgelija on February 13, 2019

The United Nations confirmed on Wednesday that it has been officially informed by the Macedonian government that the country's new name is North Macedonia.

At the United Nations, the country had been known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) because Greece objected to the use of Macedonia, the name used for its own northern region.

The 27-year-old dispute was finally settled in June during UN-brokered talks.

The new name came into force Tuesday after constitutional changes were published in the Official Gazette and Skopje's foreign ministry said both countries had informed the UN by letter that the change is now in force.

A UN official said a notice would be sent to the General Assembly and the Security Council to inform them of the change.

Since 1991, Athens had objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia because Greece has a historic northern province of the same name. Greece has blocked Macedonia's NATO and EU integration until it changes the name.

Sex abuse crusaders graduate from Vatican university

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, February 13, 2019

Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church had been "wounded" by a deepening clergy
 sex abuse crisis, and has met privately with sex abuse victims (AFP Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

Rome (AFP) - "So many children have been abused," sighs Vincent Moba, a Zambian Catholic priest who has just graduated from Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University with a diploma in safeguarding children.

Moba, 47, has completed the five-month curriculum at the Centre for the Protection of Minors to join a worldwide network of experts fighting sexual abuse at all levels of society.

Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, a German psychologist and psychotherapist abuse specialist, is in charge of the study programme, which has awarded diplomas to around 80 students, priests, nuns and lay people over the last four years.

On Wednesday, the latest group graduated from 13 countries including South Africa, Kenya, India and Thailand having completed studies in psychology, psychiatry, law, sociology and theology.

Six of them will this year enrol in a new Masters programme in safeguarding children.

Zollner is also one of the organisers of next week's Vatican global child abuse summit to discuss how to protect minors, called for by Pope Francis.

"What I have picked up here is massive, for me to share with our people," said Moba, slamming what he calls a "culture of denial" towards abuse in his country.

"Some people think for example if I sleep with a minor I will be cured of HIV and AIDS, or become a rich person," he said.

"These beliefs are destroying my culture," said the priest, who worked for 12 years in South Africa and has now been sent by his congregation to "participate in this crusade against sexual abuse in the Church."

Among this year's graduates, mainly from Asia and Africa, is Martina Vintrova, a Czech judge and lawyer specialised in canonical law.

She asked her bishop if she could come to follow the course at the Gregorian University, founded in the 16th century.

"I met victims of sexual abuse in the Church. They just started to come to me, maybe because I am a woman and a canonist at the same time.

The Catholic Church's Centre for Child Protection is located at the Pontifical Gregorian 

University in Rome, a Jesuit university founded in 1551 by Saint Ignatius of Loyola 

(AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS)

"And I started to help them. I realised I would need a more complete education, because it is not easy work," she said.

'Unaware of problem'

"In our country we are not aware of this problem. People, priests and even bishops don't believe it is such a big problem. I can see from my level it is a problem. We wait for our own scandal in the future, maybe."

The course will make it "easier to speak to victims", says the ardent Catholic.

"I hope it will make me more sensitive: how to speak to them, choose the right words, what not to say and what to say... it is a challenge for us to do everything we can to stop this."

Zollner says it is "a combination of theory and practice", including for instance "in psychology we teach what may be signs of abuse that has happened, or that is about to happen."

"We know that in all parts of the world there have been cases of abuse. That is why we need to have experts on the ground, Africans who talk to Africans, Asians who talk to Asians.

"They have the language to talk about sexual misbehaviour, they know about the cultural differences".

"We want to train people from countries and continents where there is very little expertise in safeguarding children," he added.

Zollner spends much of his time travelling around the world talking about abuse.

"It is changing: I have travelled to 60 countries on all continents over the last years with this topic. I've seen the change."

But there are still countries where dealing with abuse is problematic.

"In a Buddhist country like Myanmar or in a very Confucian society like South Korea talking about sexuality is still taboo -- as much as it is in some parts of the Catholic Church," he said.

Related Article:

Pope vows Church will 'never again' ignore abuse accusations

No new jobs but happier citizens in Finland's basic income test

Yahoo – AFP, Sam KINGSLEY, 8 February 2019

It didn't generate any jobs, but Finland's universal basic income experiment still
yielded valuable insights

A groundbreaking trial providing a guaranteed basic monthly income to 2,000 jobless people has led to improved wellbeing but failed to boost employment, Finnish authorities announced on Friday.

Last December the Nordic nation concluded a two-year experiment in which a randomly selected group of unemployed people were paid an unconditional, tax-free 560 euros ($634) a month.

Researchers studied whether the no-strings-attached income could better incentivise jobless people to find work than traditional unemployment benefits, which may be docked as soon as the recipient starts earning money.

Although the widest such study to be conducted in recent years in Europe, the Finnish trial was limited to participants who were already unemployed.

Proponents of a true "universal income" call for a monthly payent, sometimes described as a citizens' wage, to be given to everyone regardless of their wealth, family or work situation.

Nevertheless Finnish researchers believe their findings provide important insights for reforming the country's system of welfare payments.

"The recipients of a basic income had less stress symptoms as well as less difficulties to concentrate and less health problems than the control group," Minna Ylikanno, lead researcher at Finland's welfare authority Kela, said in a statement.

"They were also more confident in their future and in their ability to influence societal issues," she added.

Results at this stage are preliminary and relate only to the first year of the study, meaning Friday's findings are far from conclusive.

But a hoped-for stiumulus to levels of employment has not yet materialised, the project's researchers said.

"The recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group at finding employment in the open labour market", Ohto Kanninen, research coordinator at the Labour Institute for Economic Research, said in a statement.

Finland's social affairs minister, Pirkko Mattila, conceded on Friday that the government has no plans to roll out the scheme across the whole country.

"Even though the basic income model developed for the experiment is not likely to be adopted as such for more extensive use, I think the experiment was very successful," Mattila said in a statement.

"We can use the data from the experiment to redesign our social security system; that is going to be the next major reform.”

Similar schemes have been trialled in Canada and Kenya.

The experiment has not been without its detractors. Finnish trade unions have called instead for employers to pay living wages that do not need to be subsidised by benefits.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has claimed that a basic income programme in Finland would not be economically viable and could leave significant numbers of people in worse poverty than now.

In 2017, Swiss voters rejected a proposed universal income in a referendum after critics slammed the idea as rewarding the lazy and the feckless.

EU adopts French-German compromise on Russia gas pipeline

Yahoo – AFP, Lachlan CARMICHAEL, 8 February 2019

A compromise deal allows Germany to stay at the wheel of Nord Stream

European Union member states adopted a Franco-German compromise on Friday allowing Berlin to remain the lead negotiator with Russia on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe.

France, a pivotal player in the EU gas talks, had said earlier it would support European Union oversight of new offshore energy pipelines.

This had raised concerns in Berlin that resistance from other EU members could undermine plans for the undersea pipeline between Russia and Germany.

But Paris and Berlin now agree that chief responsibility lies with Germany, the "territory and territorial sea of the member state where the first interconnection point is located," according to a text seen by AFP.

The pipeline is due to emerge at the German Baltic port of Greifswald, from where gas will be distributed to other EU countries.

"There was indeed an agreement which was only possible thanks to close cooperation between France and Germany," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin when asked about Nord Stream 2.

The compromise text replaces older wording stipulating the EU rules on gas imports will be applied by "the territory of the member states" and or the "territorial sea of the member states".

The new text was adopted as part of reforms for gas market rules at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels. "The French-German compromise was adopted pretty much unanimously," one diplomat told AFP.

Romania, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, said it "was given the mandate... to enter negotiations with the European Parliament on the amendment of the EU gas directive."

The pipeline would allow Russia to bypass Ukraine with its gas deliveries

France's earlier support for giving EU countries more say in the pipeline project appeared likely to shift the balance away from Germany.

Nord Stream 2 faces opposition from many countries in eastern and central Europe, the United States and particularly Ukraine because it risks increasing Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas.

'Enormous pressure' from US

Combined with the planned TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea, Nord Stream 2 would mean Russia could bypass Ukraine in providing gas to Europe, robbing Moscow's new foe of transit fees and a major strategic asset.

An EU diplomat said US officials lobbied their European counterparts until just before the start of Friday's meeting in a bid to block the gas pipeline.

"Washington has put enormous pressure on EU capitals in recent days to prevent Nord Stream 2," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"The fact that the gas directive was then almost passed by consensus is also due to the growing displeasure among the EU states over the attempted US influence."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that Washington was spearheading efforts to undermine fair competition.

"This international project is necessary for Russia and the EU, but it is constantly attacked by third countries, more specifically by the United States," Peskov said.

Nord Stream 2 faces opposition from many countries in eastern and central Europe, 

the United States and particularly Ukraine because it risks increasing Europe's

dependence on Russian natural gas

Peskov accused Washington of "underhanded competition" by trying to encourage Europeans "to buy more expensive American gas".

Russia will "follow developments very closely", Peskov said, adding "we hope that the EU member countries will know how to settle this issue themselves".

'Purely economic project'

French President Emmanuel Macron's office said the compromise puts Nord Stream under "European oversight".

"It will challenge a certain number of project parameters which will have to provide transit guarantees via Ukraine as well as transit through Slovakia," an official said.

The draft compromise sought to tackle concerns over Ukraine saying: "We consider a (gas rules) directive in this spirit indispensable for a fruitful discussion on the future gas transit through Ukraine."

Merkel has so far insisted that the pipeline is a "purely economic project" that will ensure cheaper, more reliable gas supplies.

She has said there will be no dependence on Russia if Europe diversifies at the same time.

Construction has already begun, involving companies such as Germany's Wintershall and Uniper, Dutch-British Shell, France's Engie and Austria's OMV. Gas is due to start arriving in Germany by the end of the year.

May, Juncker hold 'robust' Brexit meet, agree new talks

Yahoo – AFP, Damon Wake and Alice Ritchie in London, February 7, 2019

Juncker again warned that November's withdrawal agreement could not be
 renegotiated, after May came hoping to persuade Brussels to agree on the need to
change the so-called "backstop" clause for the Irish border (AFP Photo/Aris Oikonomou)

Brussels (AFP) - Britain and the EU agreed Thursday to hold more talks to try to avoid a no-deal Brexit after a "robust" meeting between Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

Juncker reiterated in a joint statement that the EU-UK divorce agreement struck in November cannot be renegotiated, rebuffing May's attempts to change arrangements for the Irish border.

But Juncker expressed "openness to add wording" to a parallel political declaration laying out plans for future EU-UK ties, with hopes this could break the deadlock.

After his own talks with May, EU President Donald Tusk warned there was "no breakthrough in sight", although the British leader said she had seen willingness from Brussels to find a deal.

May has been desperately trying to salvage the withdrawal agreement she spent months negotiating with Brussels, after it was rejected by the British parliament last month.

She has been working with her own MPs to find a way through, but an EU official said that in Thursday's meeting with Tusk, she "did not offer any new concrete proposals".

Instead, Tusk apparently suggested to May that she study a plan laid out by British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

May has already rejected the proposal for an EU-UK customs union, but the EU leader said it "might be a promising way out of the impasse", the official told AFP.

Talk has been growing that even if MPs finally back the deal, Britain may have to delay Brexit, scheduled for March 29, to get the necessary legislation through parliament.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, whose government has stressed the importance

 of maintaining an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit, 

said recent "instability in British politics" showed why a backstop was essential 

(AFP Photo/Aris Oikonomou)

But May vowed: "I'm going to deliver Brexit, I'm going to deliver it on time."

Legally-binding changes

The impasse has deepened fears that Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal in 50 days time, disrupting trade and supplies to manufacturing.

In a sharp reminder of the urgency of finding a solution, Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that Britain's economy was "not yet prepared" for a no-deal departure.

Speaking to reporters as she left Brussels, May said she had spelled out Britain's "clear position" that legally-binding changes are needed to the so-called backstop plan for the Irish border.

Her MPs fear the arrangement, which would keep Britain tied to EU trade rules if and until another way was found to keep the frontier open, is a "trap".

Such changes to the Irish question were not forthcoming, but instead May got a fresh round of talks.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier will now meet British Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay in Strasbourg on Monday for what an EU official described as "exploratory" negotiations.

May herself will meet Juncker again before the end of February.

She is also sending her top lawyer, Geoffrey Cox, who has been looking at a possible time limit or exit mechanism on the backstop, to Dublin ahead of her own dinner on Friday night with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the main opposition Labour party, wrote to May on

 Thursday setting out his five conditions for backing her on Brexit -- including

the UK staying in the EU's customs union (AFP Photo)

Varadkar, whose government has stressed the importance of maintaining an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, said recent "instability in British politics" showed why a backstop was essential.

'Special place in hell'

Expectations for Thursday's visit were already modest when, a day earlier, Tusk and Juncker torched May's prospects of winning changes to the withdrawal agreement.

Tusk, who represents EU member leaders as head of the European Council, also triggered outrage across the Channel by damning pro-Brexit politicians.

"I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely," he said.

May said she had raised the incendiary remarks in their meeting, calling them "not helpful" and saying they had caused "widespread dismay" in Britain.

She insists that without changes to the backstop, her deal will never pass the British parliament.

But May has exasperated EU leaders by repeatedly coming to Brussels without detailed proposals.

Labour leader Corbyn wrote to May ahead of his visit suggesting that he would accept the backstop, but saying he wanted changes to the declaration on future ties.

These include a customs union, which May opposes because it would not allow Britain to have its own trade policy.

EU leader damns the Brexiteers who failed to plan

Yahoo – AFP, Dave Clark and Alice Ritchie in London, February 6, 2019

European Union leader Donald Tusk, seen here with Ireland's Prime Minister Leo
Varadkar (left), has warned that the Brexit deal Theresa May agreed last year
will not be reopened (AFP Photo/Aris Oikonomou)

Brussels (AFP) - European Union leader Donald Tusk injected hellfire into the Brexit crisis on Wednesday, damning British leaders for their failure to plan for the divorce and saying he hopes Theresa May now has a "realistic" idea.

The British prime minister is due in Brussels on Thursday to seek new ways towards ensuring Britain's orderly withdrawal from the EU in March 29 -- and to avoid what Tusk warned could be a "fiasco."

But EU Council president Tusk and EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, after meeting Irish leader Leo Varadkar, warned once again that the divorce deal May agreed last year but failed to sell to her parliament will not be reopened.

Neither will they change the deal's "backstop" that ensures an open Irish border, they said. And, in remarks that triggered a firestorm, Tusk mocked British eurosceptic leaders, some of whom now favour a "no deal" departure.

"I've been wondering what that special place in Hell looks like, for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely," Tusk said.

Juncker, at a later news conference, did not use the same language, but cheerfully laughed off Tusk's remark, joking: "I am less Catholic that my friend Donald. I believe in Heaven but I've never seen Hell apart from doing my job here. It is Hell."

This caused an uproar across the Channel, with a spokesman for the Northern Irish loyalist party the DUP picking up on the infernal theme and branding Tusk a "devilish, trident-wielding, euro maniac."

Number 10 was more measured in its response, but did not hide its irritation.

"It's a question for Donald Tusk as to whether he considers the use of that kind of language to be helpful, and I appreciate that was difficult this morning because he didn't take any questions," May's spokesman said.

British ministers and Brexiteers have repeatedly used insulting language about EU leaders and the union itself, comparing it to Nazi Germany or the Soviet gulag, but many expressed outrage at Tusk's taunt.

Eurosceptic British MEP Nigel Farage, who once called former EU leader Hermann van Rompuy a "damp rag", tweeted at Tusk: "After Brexit we will be free of unelected, arrogant bullies like you and run our own country. Sounds more like heaven to me."

Low expectations

The impasse in Brussels has led to heightened fears Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29, disrupting trade and supplies to manufacturing.

Tusk and Juncker said they look forward to hosting May on Thursday, but few in Brussels expect her to come with an acceptable offer to revive the deal, 50 days from Brexit.

Varadkar will have dinner with May in Dublin on Friday.

Offering warm support for his Irish guest, Tusk said the European Union "will not gamble with peace" on the Irish border by removing the backstop from the deal.

"I hope that tomorrow we will hear from Prime Minister May a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse," he said.

But he added: "A sense of responsibility also tells us to prepare for a possible fiasco."

Varadkar, whose government has stressed the importance of maintaining an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit, thanked Tusk.

Painstaking talks

"While we expect the backstop will never be used, we agreed again today it is needed as a legal guarantee to ensure there is no return to a hard border," he said.

May fears she will not be able to command a majority in the House of Commons to ratify a withdrawal that binds Britain into a customs union until the border issue is resolved.

On Wednesday, she discussed the issue with Northern Irish leaders in the British province before her difficult visit to Brussels to confront Juncker and Tusk.

Last month, the House of Commons overwhelmingly rejected the Brexit deal that May had negotiated with the EU over 18 months of painstaking diplomacy.

May is now looking into changes to satisfy her MPs, who fear the backstop would keep Britain indefinitely tied to EU rules with even closer alignment for Northern Ireland.

May's spokesman stressed that she wasn't coming to Brussels to ask for more time and remained determined to deliver a Brexit deal before the March 29 deadline.

"Parliament voted by a significant margin to set out what it wishes to achieve, which is changes to the backstop," the Number 10 spokesman told reporters.

Speaking in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, May vowed to seek a solution that keeps the border open and preserves the peace that ended years of violence in the British province.

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone

DW, 1 February 2019

Almost all tariffs on trade between the European Union and the world's third-biggest economy have been removed. European companies could save around a billion euros in duties each year.

   

A free trade agreement between Japan and the EU entered into force on February 1, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world's economy.

Dubbed the world's largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement removes duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products and opens up the service sector and procurement. It also moves to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.

The highlights of the deal

• Japan will have scrappped duties on 97 percent of goods imported from the EU once the agreement is fully implemented.
• Open access to the Japanese market will save EU companies from paying €1 billion ($1.14 billion) of duties annually.
• The EU will eliminate tariffs on 99 percent of imports from Japan.
• In the automotive sector, the EU will eliminate duties over a seven-year transition period.
• Both sides will eliminate duties on nearly all food and agricultural products.
• The service market will be opened, including financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications and transport.
• For the first time, the trade agreement includes countries' Paris climate deal commitments.
• The text also addresses sustainable development and sets standards for labor, safety, environmental and consumer protection.

'Protecting brand names'

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said: "This agreement has it all: it scraps tariffs and contributes to the global rulebook, whilst at the same time demonstrating to the world that we both remain convinced by the benefits of open trade."

The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: "The new agreement will give consumers greater choice and cheaper prices; it will protect great European products in Japan and vice-versa, such as the Austrian Tiroler Speck or Kobe Beef; it will give small businesses on both sides the chance to branch out to a completely new market; it will save European companies 1 billion euro in duties every year and turbo-boost the trade we already do together."

Trade groups also welcomed the move.

"This agreement is the perfect example that building bridges is better than raising walls," said Pierre Gattaz, president of BusinessEurope. "When protectionism is on the rise, the EU and Japan show to the world they remain open to modern and rules-based trade."

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said the agreement "will stimulate additional growth and create jobs for both sides."

Read more: Japan wants to attract more European travelers

The deal protects 'Geographical Indications' such as Cheddar, Kobe beef and
Scotch whiskey

What is the status of EU-Japan trade?

Japan is the EU’s second-largest trade partner in Asia after China. EU businesses export €58 billion in goods and €28 billion in services to Japan every year. The EU estimates exports to Japan will increase 13 percent, or €13 billion, as a result of the free trade zone.  Japan exports €69 billion in goods and €18 billion in services to the EU annually.

How did we get here and what’s next?

The EU and Japan began negotiations for a free trade agreement in 2013. The European Parliament and Japan’s parliament approved the deal last year after both sides finalized negotiations in December 2017.

EU and Japan are continuing investment protection negotiations and hope to reach an understanding as soon as possible.

EU states destroy suspect Polish beef as scare spreads

Yahoo – AFP, Michel VIATTEAU, February 1, 2019

Poland's chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the
suspect beef was exported (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Warsaw (AFP) - Several EU countries on Friday seized and destroyed suspect beef from a Polish slaughterhouse where allegedly sick cows were butchered, despite assurances from Warsaw that the meat did not pose a health risk.

Poland's chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the suspect beef was exported, while the European Commission said the meat was traced to 13 member states where it was being withdrawn and destroyed.

The scare recalls a 2013 scandal in which horsemeat was passed off as beef and used in ready-to-eat meals sold across Europe.

Brussels will send a team of auditors to Poland to assess the situation on the spot, said Anca Paduraru, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.

French authorities said 795 kilogrammes (1,750 pounds) of beef from the slaughterhouse -- which has now been closed -- had been imported.

More than 500 kilogrammes have already been seized and destroyed, said France's Directorate General of Food.

French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said nine French companies had been "duped" into importing beef from the abattoir in Kalinowo, a village some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Warsaw.

Lame or diseased?

Portuguese authorities said they had destroyed 99 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef, while Romania said it had eliminated 1,432 kilogrammes as a "safety measure".

The cows were slaughtered late at night when veterinary authorities were 

unlikely to visit (AFP Photo/ADRIEN MORLENT)

Sweden's National Food Agency said that just under 100 kilogrammes of the total 239 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef delivered to the country had already been consumed, while the rest has been seized.

The beef was also exported to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain, according to the European Commission.

Niemczuk said another seven tonnes were sold to about 20 outlets in Poland but insisted that tests found it did not pose a health risk.

Despite the assurances, Polish beef producers are reeling from the scandal with prices falling by around seven percent since an undercover TV report on the slaughter was aired on Saturday.

"All segments of the Polish (beef) market are worried," Jerzy Wierzbicki, head of the Polish PZPBM meat producers' association, told AFP on Friday.

Wierzbicki insisted that the cows shown in the report by the TVN24 commercial news channel were lame but not diseased.

"They were lame cows... such cattle should not be taken to a slaughterhouse but should rather be put down on the farm by a person who is qualified to do so," Wierzbicki said.

A criminal probe was launched after a TV report aired footage of apparently sick 

or lame cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered in Poland (AFP Photo/

Janek SKARZYNSKI)

'Isolated case'

"This is an isolated case, concerning a single company, the concerns are unfounded," he said, conceding that the scandal could deal a blow to Polish beef producers who rely on exports.

A leading pork supplier in the European Union, Poland also produced some 415,000 tonnes of beef last year and nearly 90 percent of it was exported, Wierzbicki said.

Poland's Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said on Friday that "pathologies" in the agri-food industry would be "cauterised with a hot iron".

"A police investigation is underway regarding the owners of the slaughterhouse and anyone involved in this process," he said, adding that there was "zero tolerance" for anything that could harm Polish exports.

The criminal probe was launched after TVN24 aired footage of apparently sick or lame cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered.

The TVN24 report said dealers bought lame or sick cattle at much lower prices. A journalist working undercover at the abattoir used a hidden camera to film the secret late night slaughter when veterinary authorities were unlikely to visit.

The European Commission has not commented on the quality of the meat in question, but issued a statement that raised concerns about the treatment of the sick animals, which it insisted could not be considered fit for human consumption.

"The practice of dragging animals unable to walk, as described (in the Polish report) is prohibited by European Union legislation on the protection of animals in slaughterhouses," it said.