Welcoming this news the Minister said:
'This is a helpful development. It means that the Court will consider only the Commission's case against France for its failure to lift its ban on British beef. The UK will be intervening in support of the Commission.
I am confident that the Court will rule in favour of the Commission.'
Details of the French case against the Commission (Case C-514/99) and the Commission case against France (Case C-1/00) were published in the Official Journal on 4 March 2000 (pages C63/18 - 19).
The French case against the Commission was principally based on an allegation that the Commission had infringed the precautionary principle and, secondly, on a claim that the procedure followed was inadequate and that insufficient reasons were given for the contested decision.