The imminent launch of legal action against France over its refusal to lift its ban on British beef imports was anticipated with a surprise political manoeuvre in Paris yesterday, when the French government said it would take the European Commission to court for failing in its legal duty to protect consumer health.
France's retaliatory move, challenging European Commission legal proceedings which are due to begin at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Monday, came hours before the expiry of an 11 p.m. deadline to respond to a "reasoned opinion" from the Commission which set out its grounds for going ahead with the legal action.
The decision to move the beef row into the courts was made after the French government sent a letter to the Commission yesterday which made it clear that it was still not satisfied that British beef was safe.
The French trade blockade on beef imports was justified on consumer grounds and Commission officials were apparently taken by surprise when they realised France intended to launch its own legal action.
The European Union's Food Safety Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, will now formally launch legal proceedings against France on Monday. The process begins when the Commission lodges legal papers with the European Court secretariat in Luxembourg which state that France is continuing to defy EU law by refusing to lift the ban on British beef imports.
Once the legal papers have been lodged with the secretariat, the process will in effect grind to a halt.
It could take up to six months before the case reaches the courtroom and that could prove highly embarrassing for the French government if, as expected, it is at the centre of a tense legal action at the beginning of its six-month presidency of the EU.
Meanwhile, Mr Byrne must also decide whether to launch similar legal action against Germany, which has also failed to lift its ban on British beef imports.
Several German regional authorities have expressed concerns about British beef and have the power to decide for themselves whether to accept British beef, but the German government has insisted bureaucratic hold-ups rather than fears over the safety of British beef have stalled the lifting of the ban.