GrannyGravy13
Extracts from a post on the France 24 website in October 2012 :
"A group of European MPs called on Thursday for a controversial EU-wide ban on the production and sale of foie gras. ....
"A group of European lawmakers, including a member from France’s Green Party, have joined animal rights campaigners in a bid to ban the production and sale of the French delicacy foie gras across the European Union.....
"The MEPs' call for a ban followed a bid by French producers, backed by the country's junior minister for the food industry Guillaume Garot, to defend the gourmet food at the European parliament.
"With some 35,000 people involved in foie gras production, the demand for a ban is unlikely to go down well in France.
"Currently, farming of animals to produce foie gras is banned in 22 EU nations - excluding Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary and Spain - but not the import or sale of what campaigners dub as "torture in a tin ............
.......... the famous UK store Fortnum & Mason said in October of this year that it will not be “bullied” into stopping the sale of the product ...........
As the above article states, many countries in the EU ban the production of foie gras and many MEPs are continuing to campaign against it. However, there is, in my opinion, a certain hypocrisy in being critical of the EU's role in this matter while many countries that ban production of foie gras, including our own, still allow it to be imported. France is the main producer of foie gras and - as has been argued re many practices involving animals - the cultural and economic importance of maintaining the status quo often seems to be thought good enough reason to overlook any cruelty that occurs. The same has been argued for events like horse racing, polo, fox hunting, big game hunting, etc, etc. This attitude is not exclusive to the EU but can be found all over the world.
People seem to want to have it both ways - claim that the EU acts like "Big Brother" in telling countries how they should conduct themselves (although it's my understanding that such matters are voted on, not just dictated) while at the same time blaming the EU for not imposing on countries laws with which they are not all in agreement.