EU welcomes French U-turn on asbestos ship

The European Commission welcomed Wednesday France's decision to order the asbestos-lined warship Clemenceau back home after a court blocked its transfer to India for scrapping.

"It is a wise decision. This waste was very dangerous," said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas, after the decision by French President Jacques Chirac.

The commission, the European Union's executive arm, last week sought clarifications from Paris about the decision to send the warship to India to be dismantled.

The French climbdown will be seen as a major victory for environmentalists, who fought tooth-and-nail to prevent the ship from being sent to India, where they say it would have posed a serious environmental and health hazard.

Accused of exporting its pollution to the developing world, the French government has been sorely embarrassed by the warship debacle, which threatened to overshadow Chirac's upcoming state visit to India.