EU retains ban on exports of British beef by products

BRITAIN was last night at the centre of another EU storm as seven member states maintained their refusal even to see a partial lifting of the beef export ban. They voted 87 to 39 to keep the ban in place last night at the Union's standing veterinary committee.

Having raised expectations domestically with claims that the committee was set to lift the ban on beef by products tallow, gelatin and semen, the British Agriculture Secretary, Mr Douglas Hogg, can today expect howls of fury and renewed demands for retaliation from his backbenchers in the wake of a day of frantic but ultimately failed diplomacy.

It was, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, said, "a bad day for Britain". Ireland supported the partial lifting of the ban.

It all hinged, sources said, on attempts by the Austrian Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, to persuade his national delegation to fall in line with the British and Commission's position that the ban on by products is unscientific.

Reluctant to put the issue to a vote unless they had a majority, Mr Fischler and Italian presidency officials were late last night still trying to broker agreement at the committee. But the issue has become embroiled for several delegations with the broader picture and dissatisfaction at British proposals for a selective slaughter.

They see the gelatin tallow ban as only one part of an integral process and are reluctant to start the process of lifting the overall ban until they are convinced by Britain's longer term plans.

Yesterday the British presented new proposals for an amended slaughter policy involving a cull of some 80,000 animals, up from 42,000. For the hardliners, led by the Germans, this does not go far enough and many delegations share concerns about enforcement and the problems involved in identifying potentially infected animals born before effective tagging began in 1990.

Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, Austria and Portugal remained firmly opposed to any relaxation.

Yesterday Greece and Belgium, with five votes each, indicated some flexibility, and the Dutch suggested clear they would back the partial lifting if semen was excluded from it.

Diplomats were last night trying to come up with a formula which would lift the ban subject to subsequent agreement on a British selective slaughter policy.

During the preliminary debate on Commission proposals to give £540 million in compensation to beef producers, Mr Yates said Ireland welcomed the fund but believed it should be targeted specifically at those who suffered most from the crisis, particularly those who had seen the sharpest fall in prices.