British beef exports have been banned by the European Union because of a serious warning by British scientists, announced in the House of Commons by British ministers, about the possibility that human beings could be infected by cattle suffering from BSE, as an alarming number of younger Britons have recently been. The cattle disease has reached epidemic levels in Britain because of the deregulation of the animal food industry by the Thatcher government in the early 1980s. Consumer confidence in the European beef industry has collapsed because of these failings in one member state by 45 per cent in Germany, 60 per cent in Italy, 40 per cent in Spain, 25 per cent in France, but only six per cent in Britain.
These remain the principal facts of the BSE crisis. The proverbial visitor from Mars would therefore be perplexed to discover that the British government has decided to announce a programme of non cooperation with the European Union in protest against its failure to lift the ban in these circumstances. He or she might ask the following questions: Is not Britain a member of the club? Does it not have a prime interest in ridding British herds of the disease and restoring consumer credibility in its beef? Do its citizens not understand that other European farmers have been hit even more severely than British ones? Is it not being subsidised by the EU to the tune of 70 per cent of the cost of slaughtering possibly infected cattle?
Does it, above all governments, not understand that consumers with such health concerns have to be won back by convincing evidence of action taken and regulations reintroduced, throughout the relevant market place, in this case the one that is integrated by the Common Agricultural Policy? Do not English farmers benefit from the CAP more than most others because of the scale of their enterprises? Can they afford to antagonise European peers when they are culpable and so much in need of solidarity? What allies and what leverage does a reluctant and awkward Britain have in the Union these days in any case?
Our visitor might be better enlightened to discover that BSE also stands for Blame Somebody Else, as the redoubtable Edwina Currie, one of the few sane Conservative voices to receive a proper hearing these days, has put it. This is a domestic convulsion expressed as a European crisis, with Mr Major's government taking on the mantle of victimhood in order to head off yet another party rebellion. In the process the worst forms of English chauvinism are on view, led on by a right wing press in a classical feeding frenzy of Europhobia. The gloves are coming off the Europhiles, finally and belatedly, as they see the dangerous course of events unfold. The outgoing chairman of the Confederation of British Industry, responding to Mr Major at a dinner, wondered whether, "in this pungent atmosphere of romantic nationalism and churlish xenophobia ... there are some among us who have failed to notice that the war with Germany has ended ... This spring seems to have brought forth a flock of cuckoos which are about as helpful as the biblical plague of locusts".
Would that more such courageous voices were to be heard. It is up to Britain's friends in Europe, including its friends in Ireland who have an interest in seeing it make a constructive contribution to European affairs, to try and bring it back to its pragmatic senses by adhering to a health and safety regime that can deal effectively with the BSE crisis that affects us all.