Reports about an imminent US ban on European meat imports last night provoked an emergency debate in the European Parliament.
In an unscheduled statement in the Parliament before the debate, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Franz Fischler, said the Commission did not feel US measures to ban meat imports were justified, nor did it comply with obligations made in previous trading agreements.
Mr Fischler said the ban extended to all trade from Europe, even from countries which had no incidence of BSE. He said the US had banned all meat from ruminants. The US had taken the measures suddenly, and such a position was unsatisfactory from the point of view of the EU veterinary committee, he said.
Mr Pat Cox, MEP for Munster, said he was deeply concerned at the US move. It had to be resisted as it sent out a negative signal internationally. It would damage consumer confidence in Europe.
Mr Liam Hyland, Fianna Fail MEP for Leinster, during the debate accused British authorities of treating the EU and its institutions with "utter contempt" in their attempts to obstruct access for beef from other EU member-states to the British market. He condemned, he said, any suggestion from the British authorities that Irish beef was anything less than a quality product.
"The ongoing crisis regarding BSE has now reached a diplomatic low with attempts by the British authorities to obstruct the importation of Irish beef into Britain and a jingoistic campaign against non-British beef," he said.
He was particularly angry at the attacks being made on Irish beef. There was growing evidence that British supermarkets and depots were being warned not to stock it. Irish beef was known throughout Europe as a quality product.
In an earlier debate, a British MEP, Mr David Hallam, from Herefordshire and Shropshire, said many beef farmers in his constituency faced a real crisis as the market was flooded by imports from other European countries which did not have the same hygiene standards as the UK.
Although Mr Hallam did not mention Ireland, Ms Mary Banotti MEP, Dublin, objected to what she described as his "gross slur" on Irish farmers and said: "It is a long time since we kept pigs in the parlour."