AN UNUSUALLY forthright President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, yesterday said he believed that Britain's move to block all EU decisions requiring unanimity was counter productive and he warned of the danger of the growth of anti British feeling in the EU.
Interviewed on the BBC's On the Record programme, Mr Santer did, however, pledge that the Commission would press ahead with the lifting of the ban on the beef by products gelatin, tallow and semen after the meeting of farm ministers on June 3rd.
Under the complicated rules of the union, if the meeting does not give its qualified majority support to the decision but the decision is not opposed by a majority of countries, the Commission can itself lift the ban.
And although Mr Santer warned against British attempts to insist against on a timetable for the lifting of the overall ban, he said he believed that it would be possible to get a "framework" for the removal agreed relatively quickly.
The difference is significant and holds out prospects for lowering the tensions in the "beef war" between Britain and its partners, but only if the British Government "wants to do so.
In his speech to the Commons, last Monday, the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, spoke of his determination to disrupt EU decision making until both a partial lifting of the ban and agreement on a "framework" for the lifting of the overall ban. Since then, British spokesmen have explained this to mean a timetable, but the Commission has continued to refer to a "framework", taken to mean approval of the basic scientific approach.
Underlying the distinction is the view among Britain's EU partners that to talk of a timetable is put the cart before the horse.
Lifting the ban, Mr Santer said yesterday, could not be a condition for restoring consumer confidence; it was necessary to convince the public that the eradication of the disease was under way. "We cannot determine by decree when confidence will bed restored."
He welcomed a suggestion that part of the step by step process could be the lifting of the ban on calves or on regions such as Northern Ireland and Scotland. But the critical issue for the Commission remained approval of proposals from Britain for the eradication of the disease, and specifically a selective slaughter programme.
In Britain an opinion poll conducted by ICM for the Observer found that more people today - 51 per cent - blame the British government for the crisis than did in early May - 45 per cent. Eighteen per cent blame the EU, and 22 per cent blame the farmers. Only 35 per cent of those surveyed think that British beef is now "completely safe".
. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, yesterday rejected suggestions by Mr Santer that Britain had mismanaged the beef crisis. "I do not believe one can simply have information circulating around Brussels before our own Parliament and our own public has been informed," Mr Rifkind said referring to Mr Santer's of the timing of the announcement by British Ministers of a possible link between BSE and CJD.
