It's over: France lifts 'illegal' beef embargo
Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, but British farmers face an uphill
struggle to get their products back on supermarket shelves there.
And they are also keen to ensure that France does not avoid
sanctions for maintaining its ban for three years after the rest of
the EU resumed imports.
After six years and with the threat of sanctions looming large, France has finally agreed to lift its embargo on imports of British beef, imposed in 1996 as a result of the BSE crisis.
The lifting of the import ban had been expected after the French food safety agency (AFSSA) last month announced that there was no public health reason to maintain the embargo, but it still comes three years after the EU authorities ruled that British beef was safe to eat.
The decision by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to lift the embargo will help ease Franco-British relations, but the real reason for the change of mind was the threat of sanctions imposed by the European Court of Justice as a result of France's illegal actions in maintaining the ban after the Commission lifted the EU-wide ban on British beef in 1999.
Reaction has been mixed. David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said he welcomed the decision to lift the embargo, and that the "validity of the EU scientific opinion has been vindicated" by the move.
But Ben Gill, president of the UK's National Farmers Union (NFU), said that France should not be let off the hook now that the ban has been lifted. "France's decision must mark the end of a sad and sorry episode in the history of the European Union," he said. "The French have cynically exploited false consumer protection issues in a shameless attempt to protect their own beef producers. The European Commission must not let the matter drop now that the French have lifted the ban. The EC must be able to take rapid punitive action in the future."
He continued in the same antagonistic tone: "It is unacceptable that such a clearly illegal ban has been able to be imposed for this length of time. It is equally unacceptable that the French can walk away from this disgraceful situation at the last possible moment before fines are imposed."
But while he was keen that sanctions of some sort be imposed on France, Gill said that British farmers were keen to put the whole BSE affair behind them and concentrate on the job in hand - persuading French consumers to eat British meat again.
"We must now focus on getting French shoppers to buy our product again. We intend to show them what they have been missing all these years. Our beef was always regarded as the best in the world. Now the door has been opened again to one of our biggest export markets, we intend to fully restore that reputation. This sends a clear message to the rest of the world about the safety of British beef."
France was the biggest market for British beef before the BSE ban, accounting for half of all exports to the EU. Approximately, 106,000 tonnes, worth £240 million (€381m) were sent there in 1995, the last full year before the Commission imposed the ban on British beef exports due to BSE.
But returning to pre-crisis export levels will be a difficult, if not impossible task. Since the lifting of the ban, Britain has exported just 500 tonnes of beef a year to a range of countries, and while the lifting of the ban now makes it possible to export beef to France, whether there is any willingness on the part of importers there to buy British meat remains to be seen.
The UK Meat and Livestock Commission was bullish about the prospects of winning back the French market, with chairman Peter Barr pledging that British beef would be back in France before the end of the month - albeit only in the halls of the SIAL food exhibition.
"The lifting of the ban is certainly not before time - we have waited years for the French to decide they will abide by the laws of Europe. The lifting of the ban comes, however, at an important time for us as the international SIAL food show is staged in Paris later this month," Barr said.
"We shall certainly be taking British beef to display and for tastings there and to a dinner for our export customers.". Whether this will be enough to persuade buyers to resume their orders and move British beef onto the supermarket shelves remains to be seen.
The lifting of the embargo is not without its conditions. France is expected to call on the EU to introduce obligatory BSE testing throughout the 15 Member States for all animals aged over 24 months - at present, only France, Germany, Italy and Spain carry out such tests.
Despite widespread condemnation, and the threat of sanctions, France maintained its embargo on British beef because it claimed that the UK had not done enough to ensure the control of the disease, citing EU documentation from early 2001 which claimed the British authorities were ignorant of the full extent of the disease.
France also accused the UK of being the only EU country not to test cattle aged over 30 months, those considered to be the most at risk from BSE because of its long incubation period. But the change of government, and more importantly, the AFSSA report, prompted a change of heart in France, and while Paris still has some concerns, exports of British beef can at least resume.
