991140 France Braces for Beef Court ActionNovember 15, 1999London - France would rather face legal action than lift its ban on British beef before it is satisfied the meat is safe. Consumer Affairs Minister Marylise Lebranchu's remarks appeared to deal a new blow to attempts by the European Union's executive commission to settle the dispute within days. “I think it is not very important if the European Commission takes legal action,” Lebranchu said in a British Broadcasting Corp. radio interview. “We would rather it did not happen, of course, but what is important is to see what kind of progress we can make.” In August, the EU lifted a worldwide ban on the export of British beef that had been imposed in 1996 because of fears that what is commonly called “mad cow disease” could be linked to a similar brain-wasting disease in humans. The French unilaterally imposed their own ban Oct. 1, claiming they had new evidence that British beef was unsafe. An EU scientific advisory committee ruled that France had no scientific justification for continuing the ban. Lebranchu said France still questioned British methods of checking, testing and tracing animals. “We have to see what progress can be made with Britain on animal tracing, and thus we win on the matter of public health - and that is more important than to try and avoid a legal process for the sake of it,” she said. Ben Gill, president of Britain's National Farmers' Union, accused France of stalling. “I am not prepared to go on having filibustering tactics from the French with any further delays,” he said. “You cannot possibly be going on with a single member state - a founding member state - ignoring whatever European law they want.” He said unless there is swift solution there will be “a major constitutional and political crisis for the EU that is many layers of magnitude higher than just beef.”
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