Mad Over Beef Ban, Britain to Try Hampering EU

The opening salvos sound today in Prime Minister John Major’s “mad cow” confrontation with Europe in retaliation for its ban on British beef.

In Brussels today, British delegates plan to veto three parts of a routine civil-protection agreement that requires unanimous ratification by the European Union’s 15 members. British inaction could also delay further the birth of a long-planned European police force. And here in London, a European code on cross-border bankruptcies will be blocked after two decades of negotiations--for want of a British signature.

Thus begins an unprecedented--and risky--British noncooperation campaign to disrupt the EU’s cumbersome decision-making process.

Major said Britain will continue to participate fully in Union deliberations, but “we will not give our agreement to measures where our agreement is needed.”

The British action evoked memories of former French President Charles de Gaulle, who suspended his country’s participation in all forums of the European Community--as the Union was then known--for six months in 1965 after a rift over farm subsidies. That move--dubbed “the empty chair policy”--temporarily crippled the organization, but few expect the British tactic to have such dire consequences.

“It’s agitation, not all-out war,” said a Dutch EU official who declined to be identified. “We’ll need some patience, but we’ll get through this.”

Some EU officials predicted that the move may end up stiffening the resistance of member states (said to include Spain, Austria and Greece) opposed to a swift end to the ban.

EU officials banned all British beef exports eight weeks ago after scientists reported a possible--but unproved--link between a bovine brain disease and a new strain of a brain disease fatal to humans. Britain, whose beef has long been a matter of national pride, calls the ban unjust and disproportionate.

In London, skeptics on European unity are cheering Major, while critics say the prime minister hopes to revive his withered domestic popularity with fierce nationalism, his sights on a possible election in the fall. The opposition Labor Party, which in opinion polls leads the ruling Conservatives by more than 20%, accuses Major of trying to distract attention from the government’s “incompetence” in handling the beef crisis.

Pro-Europeans among Conservatives warned that Major’s stand could backfire, undermining his chances in an election that must be held within 12 months. Despite concerns over the erosion of sovereignty, all major political parties in Britain endorse membership in and cooperation with the EU.

“The government’s stance is supposed to convey toughness abroad and to impress the electorate. It is more likely that it will be seen by all concerned as a sign of weakness,” warned George Walden, a pro-European member of Parliament in Major’s party.

The ambivalence at home means that Britain is often seen in Europe as a halfhearted partner, but Major’s action marks the biggest breach between London and its continental partners since Britain joined an amalgamating Western Europe in 1973.

Britain has argued repeatedly--but futilely--for a lifting of the export ban.

What triggered Major was the failure of the EU’s veterinary committee to agree Monday on a partial lifting of the embargo on derivative beef products from Britain.

At its weekly meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, the EU’s Executive Commission proposed that Union agriculture ministers scheduled to meet June 3 and 4 agree to lift the ban on such derivatives as gelatin, tallow and semen.

Unless there is progress to Britain’s liking, Major warned that a European summit in Florence, Italy, on June 21 and 22 “is bound to be dominated by this issue.”

Times staff writer Tyler Marshall in Brussels contributed to this report.