THE British government's decision to suspend its selective cattle cull has put paid to any chance of an early end to the beef export ban on Northern Ireland's certified BSE free herds. It is also likely to plunge the EU into further acrimonious exchanges over beef.
The EU Farm Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, made it clear yesterday that agreement reached at Florence on a framework for ending the ban was a package, and that repudiation by the British of one element of it would block any part of the ban being lifted.
"As long as they do not meet the preconditions, and until we have a working document from them which we can carefully check, then an end to the export ban is simply not a possibility," he told the European Parliament.
He said the British government's stance had done nothing to help the beleaguered European beef market. This view was echoed by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, yesterday when he said the British decision would make EU moves to resolve the Europe wide BSE problem more difficult and would affect Northern Irish and Scottish farmers most.
However, Mr Yates added that Ireland would not be seeking a confrontation with Britain over its decision. Speaking yesterday at the Agricultural Science Association conference in Co Clare, the Minister said he will be using this weekend's informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Killarney to get "the slaughter policy back on the rails".
"I am very disappointed with the British decision and I will be taking the opportunity of bringing the matter up with (the British Agriculture Minister) Mr (Douglas) Hogg when we meet this weekend in Killarney," said Mr Yates.
Mr Yates, who is currently president of the European Farm Council, said the issue could not be decided by the farm ministers but by the Commission which will be receiving a submission from Britain about how it intends to deal with the problem.
The British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, yesterday insisted his government had been acting "within the limits" set down by the Florence summit meeting in June, when it had called for new scientific evidence on BSE to be considered. "I don't think anybody wishes to see a cull take place which is unnecessary and economically wasteful.
"I hope we can discuss these matters rationally with the European Union and reach a rational and proper decision. This is what we are seeking to do and when we have reached that decision and taken the action necessary, I hope that the ban will be lifted."
Yesterday a Commission spokesman said: "The Commission remains open to discuss the possibilities which may exist for easing the ban for animals from certified herds, possibly on a regional basis, provided the terms of the Florence agreement are respected."
A spokesman for the Ulster Farmers' Union expressed disappointment at the British decision to defer a selective cull. "We have been clearly led to believe by Europe that we cannot get back into the market without the cull. If Great Britain decides it can live without exporting, we, on the other hand, cannot."
Northern farmers, before the ban, exported one in two of the animals they produced and are now deeply concerned about the permanent loss of markets.
The decision has prompted a similar disappointment in Scotland, one of whose farm leaders warned last week that just such a decision "could raise constitutional issues". Like Northern Ireland farmers, they depend to a far greater extent on exports than their English counterparts.
In the rest of Europe the volte face will provoke widespread anger. "A deal done, now repudiated", was how one frustrated diplomat put it, reflecting the language of the former British prime minister, Sir Edward Heath, who said that it would be "interpreted widely that the British government reached an agreement at Florence and has now overthrown that agreement unilaterally.