DEMANDS for the dismissal of the European Commission over its handling of the BSE crisis will be made at this week's session of the European Parliament which is expected to generate heated international debate.
Unless the Commission can persuade the Parliament that it will put strict controls in place to protect the health of European citizens, eradicate BSE and control animal feedstuff ingredients, it will face a censure vote and a major crisis.
The debate has its roots in a Parliament decision last July to set up a committee of inquiry to investigate "alleged contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of Community law in relation to BSE".
The committee's report, which is highly critical of the way the crisis was handled in Brussels, will provide many groups in Parliament an opportunity to vent their anger at the Commission.
The report, published on February 7th, singled out the UK as being the main party responsible for the BSE crisis and said it failed to honour a number of articles of the Treaty of Rome and the terms of the Florence Agreement to cull the number of animals required by the European Veterinary Committee. It also accused the UK of a breach of Community law when its Agriculture Minister, Mr Douglas Hogg, refused to give evidence to the committee of inquiry.
The Commission was accused of attempting to downplay the BSE problem down the years despite scientific information and of failing to display the requisite level of vigilance.
It also accused the Commission of serious errors and omissions, particularly the former Agriculture Commissioners, Mr Ray MacSharry and Mr Rene Steichen, in the period 1990 to 1994.
While many MEPs will welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that the Parliament is not a toothless talking shop, they are unlikely to seek the sacking of the Commission.
Some of the groupings in the Parliament want the Commission punished for its behaviour but will probably settle for a censure vote.
There will be intense interest in how the British MEPs react to the debate and if they will attempt to justify their behaviour, particularly since March 1996, which led at one stage to a virtual boycott of the EU by the UK.
One Irish MEP, Ms Bernie Malone, has dubbed those who want to sack the Commission as "extremists", indicating that the socialist grouping will not be seeking the Commission's dismissal.