THE European Commission demonstrated once more what a toothless tiger it really is.

As the French stubbornly refused to reverse their decision to ban sales of British beef in defiance of EU instructions, the word from Brussels was that legal proceedings would be launched within a week if the ban was not lifted.

The French should have been hit with everything in the Commission's legal armoury.

Instead we get the dithering reaction we have come to expect from the Commission.

Minister of Agriculture Nick Brown did more to make the French sit and take notice with his own personal boycott of their goods.

Imagine the uproar if the boot was on the other foot.

By now the French would have blockaded all their Channel ports, rent-a-mob lorry drivers would be making sure their British counterparts were stranded for days and housewives would be boycotting everything British.

The French have demonstrated, once more, that where European issues are involved, they think they are a law unto themselves.

It is high time they were taught that this is not the case and perhaps a dose of their own medicine, as prescribed by Nick Brown, would bring them to their senses.

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