EU court rejects beef price appeal by French unions

Europe’s top court rejected on Thursday an appeal by five French farm organisations against fines totalling 11.97 million euros ($17.21 million) for fixing beef prices in the wake of Europe’s mad cow crisis.

The case has dragged on for five years, starting in 2003 when the European Commission announced a fine of 16.7 million euros against six farming bodies for exploiting a depressed market and breaking EU competition rules at the same time.