Britain seeks framework on removing beef ban by July 1

BRITAIN hopes to agree a framework with Europe to lift the ban on British beef before Ireland takes over the EU Presidency next month. One of the first demands may be for a lifting of the ban on the export of beef to third countries, according to British junior Agriculture Minister, Mr Tony Baldry.

Mr Baldry was in Dublin yesterday to outline his government's response to the crisis and defend the policy of non co-operation which has seen the halting of the EU decision making process.

"The framework will be a series of steps. One of these might be the removal of the ban on exporting to third countries. Another could well be the go ahead to export calves born after a certain date, for example August 1st," he told The Irish Times.

Also at the briefing, the British junior Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr David Davis, said his government had adopted the non co-operator policy "with some regrets".

"We would like to see it over as quickly as possible so we can go back to normal business in the Community." He said the policy had helped "colleagues in Europe to focus on this issue" and denied it was meant to appease Conservative Euro sceptics.

Mr Davis met the Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, yesterday afternoon. Mr Mitchell said he told him the Government would do what it could to help. "We want to be good neighbours and we want to restore consumer confidence in beef."

Mr Mitchell said if the framework was not agreed before July 1st, Irish Ministers would be "disposed towards advancing the framework agreement step by step". Mr Baldry said he wanted to give other European countries "the fullest possible understanding of the measures we've taken and the measures we're about to take".

He said 190,000 cattle had been slaughtered since 1988, veterinary inspections had increased and the possession of bone meal and feed containing animal protein had been made a criminal offence to take effect from next August.

He said the British government expected to reduce the incidence of BSE from 36,000 cases in 1992 to 8,000 this year. By next year, it hoped the level would fall to 2,800.. cases. Since March 29th, all animals over 30 months had been excluded from the food chain and Britain was expecting to slaughter one million animals in the next year.

Mr Baldry said the British government also planned a "targeted cull" of cattle in BSE infected herds. He disagreed that the Irish policy of slaughtering all the cattle in a herd where BSE was found had helped to maintain consumer confidence. "An approach of eliminating whole herds can sometimes be helpful, but there is no scientific justification for it." Mr Baldry said the framework would be based on "best science".

Mean while, Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna yesterday criticised the lifting of the EU ban on British beef products, including fallow, semen and gelatine. She accused the European Commission of "casting aside scientific considerations and the rights of consumers" in response to bullying from Britain

The Progressive Democrats agriculture spokesman, Mr John Dardis, said in a statement he welcomed the news of price cuts in beef to the consumer. "The safety of Irish beef has been established by the slaughter policy whereby all animals from infected herds are destroyed."