Farmers in Yorkshire were hoping today that the ban on British beef exports would finally be lifted.

European Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler said it was "most likely" that the ban - imposed in the wake of the BSE crisis - would be ended at a crunch meeting of European agriculture ministers this afternoon.

The decision would be a massive boost to cattle farmers from North and East Yorkshire, but would only mark the beginning of a long battle to win back European consumer confidence and foreign export markets.

National Farmers' Union president Ben Gill, who raises beef cattle on his farm at Hawkhills, near Easingwold, was in Brussels today to meet European

Commissioner Leon Brittan and hold talks with the president of the European Union Agriculture Council immediately before the crucial ministers' meeting.

He told the Evening Press: "We are on our way back into Europe. This will be a very important boost for British beef farmers and for the industry as a whole, which has suffered a great deal in the past couple of years."

A major worldwide promotion blitz will be launched the moment the beef export ban is lifted by the Government-backed Meat and Livestock Commission.

But even if the vote goes in favour of Britain, exports would only be permitted at some time in early 1999 after EU inspectors have visited British beef premises to ensure they meet standards.

Farmer Mike Powley, from Green Hammerton, near York, for whom beef farming accounts for around half his turnover, said: "I hope they do lift the ban - I've had my fingers crossed for the past couple of years.

"Lifting the ban will be one step closer to things improving but the biggest problem at the moment is all areas of farming are under pressure - nothing is doing well.

"The biggest thing the Government could do now would be to promote British beef abroad."

Britain's meat industry has called on Europe to trust it as it battles to regain foreign markets lost during the worldwide beef ban.

Tens of thousands of Government-funded promotional leaflets will flood across the Continent and the rest of the world, in a concerted effort to persuade overseas customers that it is safe to put British beef back on the menu.

Industry figures estimate the 32 month-long ban on British beef exports, which was introduced in the wake of possible links between BSE and the human form of 'mad cow disease', has cost farmers £2 billion.

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