<p>European Commission Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso President of the Commission Batiment Berlimont 1049 Brussels</p><p>Date: 13 April 2006 Subject: Economic nationalism</p><p>Dear Mr. Barroso,</p><p>With much appreciation we have noticed your comments on the so-called ‘economic nationalism’. In the agricultural sector, e.g. in the meat sector, the single market is taken for granted. Nevertheless we are regularly facing initiatives from Member States that undermine the principle of the single market and leading to distortion of competition. Especially at times of low market prizes, measures are taken to protect the own market and to favor the national product. Examples of this are numerous. We are therefore very pleased with your reaction to the actual trend of economic nationalism, a development that we should not and cannot accept as you have quoted, and with your statement that we “cannot build barriers against each other in a single market”.</p><p>Given your position with regard to this economic nationalism, we were, however, unpleasantly surprised by the recent publication of a DG SANCO paper on labeling. In this paper DG SANCO is suggesting the mandatory indication of the origin of meat on Member State level. This suggestion is based on the ‘perception’ of the consumer “that meat from their country is ‘safer’”, as it is stated in the document. It goes without saying that this ‘perception’ is in total contradiction with all common European measures and rules in place for guaranteeing the safety of meat in Europe. Legislation in this policy area is completely harmonized within the EU. It should therefore be obvious that for the European Commission, as initiator and controller of these rules, such a ‘perception’ could never be a justified basis for a mandatory indication of the EU country of origin. To the contrary, the European Commission should not take such a perception for granted, but counter this by all means available. Furthermore, the experience from the origin labeling for beef and veal (established at time of the BSE crisis!) learns that such a country of origin labeling not only leads to “barriers against each other in a single market”, but also creates red tape by means of significant additional administrative burdens for the industry involved.</p><p>Given all this, we are of the opinion that the option of a mandatory country of origin labeling of meat is in total contradiction with the overall policy of the European Commission (as it has been presented by you as President of the Commission) to fight economic nationalism and reduce existing red tape for business and its policy on food safety. We therefore would like to ask you to ensure that the above mentioned document of DG SANCO, will be modified on this specific issue, and we trust that the policy of DG SANCO on labeling will be coherent with the overall policy of the Commission on economic nationalism.</p><p>Sincerely yours,</p><p>Product Boards for Livestock and Meat Jos Ramekers </p><p>Cc: Mrs. Mariann Fischer Boel Mrs. Neelie Kroes Mr. Markos Kyprianou Mr. Günter Verheugen </p>