Ireland backs call to lift ban on beef by-products

IRELAND will tomorrow back a call from EU scientists to lift the export ban on British beef by products of tallow, gelatin, and semen the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said yesterday.

Mr Spring was attending a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers which heard another impassioned appeal, from the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, to lift the ban. Mr Bilkiad warned his peers that the British public would not understand if the meeting of the Standing Veterinary Committee refused to heed the "unanimous" advice of the Commission and its scientists that the ban on the by products was scientifically unnecessary.

Mr Spring said he believes there is a majority for the partial lifting of the ban, but that some countries had yet to declare their position. It was "most desirable", he said, however, that any agreement to do so would be on the most widespread basis possible.

The Tanaiste's concerns reflect a common view among member states willing to relax the ban they do not want to see headlines suggesting the Union is divided over what should be a scientific rather than a political decision. Last night, however, it was still unclear whether a majority can be mustered. France, Germany, and Spain, the hard liners on the issue, can combine to block a qualified majority vote.

In a gesture of political support to the beleaguered Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, the ministers agreed to back an action plan for Russia. This proposes political and economic aid for the reform process as well as co operation on crime and security.

They also heard an appeal from the Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rafiq al Hariri, for a package of aid totalling £1 billion a year to help in the reconstruction of the country. Mr Spring said there was "a high degree of understanding and sympathy" for Mr Hariri. The Union would work on building a coalition of support for Lebanon, involving the US, Japan and others.

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe is likely to defer Croatia's application for membership because of concerns about human nights violations. These have focused on the decision by the Croatian leader, Mr Franjo Tudjman, dissolve the democratically elected Zagreb city council and prosecute a number of newspaper editors.

In their monthly attempt to keep the Inter Governmental Conference moving forward, ministers last night debated Franco German proposals for a general flexibility clause for the treaty. While there is widespread agreement that the Union will have to make provision for some "differentiated integration" allowing some to proceed faster than others to an agreed goal, a procedure already applying, to monetary union some members view with concern a general clause which would treat all three pillars of decision making in the same way.

Mr Spring is understood to have warned that such a discussion is premature and could actually make agreement on extending majority voting more difficult by offering the less acceptable alternative of an opt out as an easy way through to agreement.

Others argue that while flexibility is acceptable in the realms of veto voting, it is retrograde in such areas as social policy. A general clause would be seen to facilitate the British opt out.

Reuter adds The EU has agreed on the basis for trade talks with Mexico after reaching a compromise. However, officials said this meant a free trade pact was still a long way off.

The compromise was reached after first Britain, Sweden and Spain resisted some proposals because they did not go far enough, and then France blocked an alternative for going too far.

The deal was so complicated the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, told reporters he could not explain it.

France, worried by a plethora of bilateral trade agreements between the IFU and other nations, is particularly anxious to protect its agriculture market.