French in tit-for-tat blockade - farmers weekly

26 October 1999 French in tit-for-tat blockade _BY FWI STAFF_ FRENCH farmers are this afternoon preparing to block lorries carrying British goods across the Channel, in retaliation to

boycotts on French goods by British companies. A spokesman with the regional FDSEA farm union in the Nord-Pas de Calais region told _Yahoo News_ that farmers planned a two-hour protest on

Tuesday afternoon in the port of Calais. “This is because of the English position of boycotting French products,” the FDSEA spokesman said, acknowledging that the British boycott was

informal. This is the latest development in the escalating beef crisis between the countries since France defied the EU and refused to lift BSE the ban on British beef. Several British

supermarkets withdrew French produce in support of British farmers and Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said he would boycott French goods. West Country farmers have been picketing ports to

try to stop French trucks arriving in Britain. Revelations at the weekend that France used human sewage and animal parts in its animal feed prompted calls from the Conservative Party and

media for a ban on French beef. Yesterday the government decided not to introduce a ban after scientific advisors said French meat posed no immediate health risk. A spokesman at the British

embassy in Paris said: “The British government has refused calls by some in the United Kingdom for a protectionist response. “The British government has and continues to act in accordance

with the law.” Jean-Bernard Bayard, president of the FDSEA in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, told _Reuters_ on Monday that French fruit growers had started to feel the effects of the

anti-French campaign. Analysts have said France stands to lose more than Britain from a trade war over agricultural products. Britain bought FF25 billion-worth (£2.44bn) of food and

agricultural goods from France in 1998, more than one-tenth of the total FF230bn exported, according to Frances external trade centre CFCE. In comparison, Britain sold FF13bn of farm goods

to France last year.