AN Irish MEP had said that "smaller and extremist groups" in the European Parliament who want to sack the EU Commission for its handling of the BSE issue could plunge the Union into the most serious political crisis in its history.
Ms Bernie Malone, the Dublin Labour MEP, said in a statement yesterday that the blame for the BSE crisis rested firmly at the feet of the British Conservative government, which had failed to take action when necessary.
Firing the Commission at this stage, she said would do absolutely nothing to resolve the BSE crisis, and "would only delight the British Conservative part, whose inaction precipitated the present crisis." Posturing by the smaller groups in the parliament was one of the main reasons they were not taken seriously there, Ms Malone said.