STRASBOURG, France, Feb 19 (Reuter) - The European Parliament adopted a scathing report on Wednesday condemning European Commission President Jacques Santer and Britain on Wednesday for serious errors in the mad cow crisis, but stopped short of immediate sanctions. The parliament endorsed the report by a special committee of inquiry that accused the Commission and Britain of giving the beef market priority over public health, failing to enforce eradication measures and minimising the risks of the disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). But it gave the EU's executive body until November 1997 to implement the report's recommendations, warning that otherwise it would seek dismissal of Santer and his 19 commissioners. "The Commission must get a chance to put things right," Reimer Boege, president of the inquiry committee, said after the parliament had overwhelmingly voted to support of the report. Although a fringe group led by Belgian Socialist Jose Happart will on Thursday present a censure motion cal

ling for the immediate sacking of the Commission, it is widely expected to be soundly defeated. Boege said the parliament had gained ground against the Commission and the EU council of ministers in inter-institutional power politics. The inquiry's report was the first to be issued since the parliament was given greater investigative powers under the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. "We have shown our colours. We are committed to taking further action if our requirements are not met," Boege, a German Christian Democrat, told a news conference. He said measures announced on Tuesday by Santer in a bid to fend off parliamentary censure were a positive signal. In a new move, Santer proposed that the parliament be offered the right of veto over EU health legislation, saying it should be given joint decision-making powers with EU ministers in that field. Santer reiterated that the Commission would reorganise its food safety services to put the popular and energetic consumer affairs chief, Italian Emma Bonino, in overall con

trol. But Boege warned that Santer must fulfil his promises. "We will be keeping a vigilant eye," he said. The report's author, Spanish Socialist Manuel Medina Ortega, stressed that the EU's veterinary inspection services must be improved and that people must be kept fully informed on BSE developments. "It's very important for public opinion," he said. Although the report mainly blamed Britain for the BSE crisis, which broke in March 1996 when the British government admitted that BSE was linked to a deadly human equivalent, the parliament is powerless to take direct action against London. Instead it could only condemn "the behaviour of the UK Government and its management of the BSE crisis and deplores the refusal of itsMinister of Agriculture to attend and give evidence to the committee." Some Euro MPs also said that if the parliament didn't act now it was highly unlikely to pluck up the courage to sack the commission at the end of the year. "One year before the single currency and three months before selec

tion of EMU candidates, the major European political groups will never push through a censure motion," Irene Soltwedel-Schaefer, of the Green Group, told a news conference.