THE draft European Parliament report on the handling of the BSE crisis won broad support from MEPs when it was debated here in committee last night.
But the British Conservatives leader in the parliament, Lord Plumb, attacked the draft as prejudiced and based on the wisdom of hindsight. Nothing had been covered up by the Commission he told The Irish Times. He said the report had failed to acknowledge the progress made in Britain in controlling BSE.
Amendments to the report will be voted on February 6th, but sources close to the committee of inquiry say it is unlikely the central thrust of its conclusions will be changed.
One of its principal targets, the former Irish Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Ray MacSharry, rejected the findings and told The Irish Times from his home in Sligo that everything he had done had the approval of the Commission and was in the name of the college of commissioners. He had always abided by scientific advice, and actions had been approved by the Council of Ministers.
Mr MacSharry said the Commission had always acted rapidly and entirely in line with the advice of the Scientific Veterinary Committee. He said its approach was fully endorsed by the World Health Organisation. He rejected any suggestion that he had discouraged internal meetings on BSE, citing over 100 discussions of the issue.
No observations or recommendations were made to me by my officials that the public health dimension of BSE was not receiving sufficient attention or that measures taken were inadequate," he said.
Mr MacSharry said he stood completely over his statement to the committee in November, 1996, "that managing the market was never, and I repeat never, given priority over measures to protect health."
But while MEPs at the committee of inquiry last night accepted that the bulk of the blame for failure to manage the BSE crisis should be laid at the door of the British, many were determined to insist on a shared responsibility for the Commission and individual commissioners, as well as the Council of Ministers.
The inquiry chairman, the German Christian Democrat, Mr Reimer Boege, went further than the draft report in calling for a motion of censure against the Commission. Others argued that such a motion, the only procedural sanction available to MEPs, would tar those responsible with the innocent.
The British Labour MEP, Mr Philip Whitehead, warned against scapegoating and stressed the need in amending the draft to ensure that all allegations were scrupulously sustained. But he said the report went to the heart of the matter, acknowledging that the British government had acted "with indifference bordering on negligence".
He said it was right to focus on the crucial 1990 to 1994 period and cast a stern eye on the Commission's activities. Why had inspections ceased? "Why did a curious silence fall over many of the institutions?" But he ruled out a conspiracy.
