Price Impact of EU Food Standards Limited

(FlexNews – Reuters)

A senior European Commission official on Thursday backed the idea of forcing farm imports to meet European Union production standards, but said the move would not give EU producers a significant new price advantage.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in March that he would be prepared to discuss a cut in the EU's 50 billion euro ($60.19 billion) annual farm budget in return for tougher conditions on imports to protect European produce.

"We believe in our model not only for safety, but for environmental protection and also animal welfare standards, so we should continue to defend it at international level," Paola Testori Coggi, head of the Commission's health and consumers department, said at a conference in Brussels on Thursday. Read more here.