The European Union Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler, has told BBC News Online he hopes there will be agreement in Brussels by Christmas to end the ban on most exports of British beef.

He said that would be "a very big step" to help British farmers.

The ban was imposed in March 1996, in response to British scientists' acknowledgement of a probable link between BSE, the so-called "mad cow disease", and its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Overnight, it lost farmers a market worth more than �500m a year.

And although exports from Northern Ireland have been allowed to resume, the rest of the United Kingdom is still unable to export its beef.

Dr Fischler says he is hopeful of agreement to lift the ban on most British exports by Christmas.

He said it would be a qualified and limited lifting, applying only to animals born after July 1996 - the date when a ban on feeding livestock on meat and bonemeal took effect.

Commissioner Fischler hopes to help

But the Commissioner agreed that it would be a "significant" step forward for British farmers.

Virtually all beef for export comes from animals born after the key date.

Even if Brussels does agree in December on this lifting of the ban, it will probably take at least three months before all the practical details have been sorted out.

No exports are likely to leave England, Wales or Scotland much before Easter next year at the earliest.

Unique problems

Dr Fischler said the BSE crisis, and the strength of sterling, were the two factors that made the crisis of Britain's farmers uniquely severe.

But he said the crisis was also affecting several other EU members, particularly Ireland.

"Beef and pig markets are down everywhere, because of the economic crises in Asia and Russia", he said.

"The European Union used to send 40% of all its beef exports to Russia, and more than a third of its pigmeat exports. There was a similar market for dairy farmers.

The EU Commission will decide

"Now that is totally blocked. But there is some slight movement in cereal prices".

Dr Fischler said the British Government had not asked him for emergency aid for the farmers, and there was no help that he could give in any case.

"It is open to the United Kingdom Government to provide this aid", he said. "It has the money, and it must take the decision."

He said he had had several discussions with Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, and the lifting of the beef ban had emerged as the priority.

The Commissioner did not accept that the crisis showed there were too many farmers in Britain.

"The country has the best farming structure in the EU", he said. "The crucial point is that we must enable British farmers to sell their products at prices which compare with the rest of Europe".

"British - and Irish - farm prices are the lowest in the EU", Dr Fischler said. "So the strength of the national economies is the major element in the crisis".