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French fined by Europe over beef Thursday 3 April 2003 News that the European commission have decided to impose a fine on the French Government for breaking European rules on beef have been greeted with satisfaction by Conservative MEPs. The fine of over £11 million has been imposed on six French federations in the beef industry. The French livestock traders were found to be acting illegally by trying to fix a minimum price for beef, with the intention of suspending imports of beef into France and fixing a minimum price for certain categories of cattle East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer, said: "For once the French have got their just deserts. For over three years the French Government flouted the rules and got away with it. At least this decision might make them think twice before getting up to their old tricks in the future. This was just another example of the French blatantly ignoring the rules in order to protect their own farmers. However, this will be little comfort to those East Midlands farmers who were ruined as a result of the illegal French beef ban. It is just a pity that the European commission did not have the nerve last year to impose the £100,000 a day fine over the beef ban" |