THE European Commission has deferred a final ruling on Ireland's £103 million fine for fraud in the beef industry. Commissioners were expected to decide the scale of the penalty on Wednesday but will not now rule before March 13th at the earliest.
Officials said more time was needed to prepare the dossier, which has been the subject of intense lobbying by the Government. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, the Secretary to the Government, Mr Frank Murray, and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Mr Michael Dowling, have been in Brussels this week to press the case for a rebate.
The Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, is understood to be sympathetic to Ireland's case but has not yet formally proposed a revised penalty. He must take into account the recommendation of his colleague in charge of combating fraud, Ms Anita Grad in, who is thought to be reluctant to agree to a significant reduction.
Meanwhile, the Fianna Fail spokesman on agriculture, Mr Brian Cowen, criticised the Minister for "slagging off" Mr Fischler in a separate dispute over beef export subsidies. "I hope that the slagging off does not mean that Ireland's case won't be heard as sympathetically as it would otherwise have been. It has not been a helpful factor," he said.