The BSE crisis claimed its first political victims last night with the resignation of Germany's Health and Agriculture Ministers. Announcing her decision at a press conference in Berlin, the Health Minister, Ms Andrea Fischer, said she had taken the action because the public had lost confidence in her ministry.
A government spokesman confirmed that the Agriculture Minister, Mr Karl-Heinz Funke, was also stepping down. "I hope that by resigning I can contribute to an end of the revelations and help promote a return to business as usual," Ms Fischer said.
The two ministers had come under attack for their handling of the crisis, which was characterised by complacency, inefficiency and lack of communication within the cabinet.
Ms Fischer admitted yesterday she had failed to pass on to the Agriculture Ministry an EU warning that German safeguards against BSE were inadequate. German public opinion was shocked to discover that BSE, which most consumers associated with imported beef, had been found in German cattle. Ministers and the Prime Minister of Bavaria, where most cases were found, blamed one another and attempted to shift responsibility to the European Commission.
When Ms Fischer suggested that the outbreak highlighted the hazards of modern factory farming, the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, joined the call for a return to more traditional farming methods. But Mr Funke, himself a farmer, defended modern farming practice and hinted that Germany was in the grip of a food scare.
Ms Fischer, a popular member of the Greens, is likely to be succeeded by Ms Barbara Hohn, environment minister in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ms Hohn, also a Green, has long adopted a hardline stance on BSE, arguing against the early lifting of bans on imported beef and introducing tests for cattle in her state in early 1999, long before the latest crisis.
A tough negotiator who has no fear of unpopularity, Ms Hohn wants all cattle destined for the food chain to be tested for BSE. And she is likely to press for a comprehensive overhaul of farming practice aimed at providing better protection for consumers.
EU officials will not regret the departure of Ms Fischer and Mr Funke, both of whom ignored warnings that a crisis was looming.
Ms Hohn is likely to give a more sympathetic hearing to the concerns of the EU Food Safety Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, as he seeks an EU-wide solution to the problem of BSE.
