Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what special EU support is offered to poultry farmers; and what assessment he has made of the impact of such support on the poultry industry in the UK. [82712] Poultry Farmers
Ian Pearson: Recent amendments to EU Council Regulations 2777/75 and 27771/75 provide legal powers to make special support measures available to member states in the event of a significant decline in consumer confidence in poultry products, as a direct result of avian influenza, causing the market to collapse.
It is a long established Government policy that accommodating market fluctuations is something for the industry to manage. It is principally for this reason that we do not propose to exercise the EC provision to provide these exceptional market support measures.
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