Senior French officials have admitted that they plan to block attempts to cut European Union farm subsidies worth more than £7 billion a year to France's farmers. France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, had tabled "conclusions" to a meeting of farm ministers urging that the Common Agriculture Policy should be continued unchanged beyond 2013, the date when a new five year Brussels budget period begins. But Britain, through Huw Irranca-Davies, Minister for Rural Affairs, has joined with Sweden and Latvia to block France's attempts which would threaten to break promises made three years ago when Britain gave up £7 billion in its annual rebate from Brussels in trade off for an understanding there would be a future cut in farm subsidies. "There were three or four areas within the text that, despite assurances that it did not predetermine any budget outcome, in our eyes did presuppose that there was a different direction of travel," Mr Irranca-Davies said. The Daily Telegraph has learned that France is using its EU presidency to try and find ways of protecting the CAP from reform during negotiations in 2009.
France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, had tabled "conclusions" to a meeting of farm ministers urging that the Common Agriculture Policy should be continued unchanged beyond 2013, the date when a new five year Brussels budget period begins.
But Britain, through Huw Irranca-Davies, Minister for Rural Affairs, has joined with Sweden and Latvia to block France's attempts which would threaten to break promises made three years ago when Britain gave up £7 billion in its annual rebate from Brussels in trade off for an understanding there would be a future cut in farm subsidies.
"There were three or four areas within the text that, despite assurances that it did not predetermine any budget outcome, in our eyes did presuppose that there was a different direction of travel," Mr Irranca-Davies said.
The Daily Telegraph has learned that France is using its EU presidency to try and find ways of protecting the CAP from reform during negotiations in 2009.
Yeah, I take this sh*t SERIOUSLY!
Might be a stupid question but that's me.
The music's over. I've turned out the lights. Bye Bye.
Hmmm. While I understand the sentiment behind what you're saying here, that is only because I have been around EuroTrib long enough to know how emotional and bitter disagreements about farm subsidies and the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) are around here.
But as someone who did not grow up in Europe and had very little interest in the issue of farm subsidies anyway, it has been a long and not very fun learning curve to understanding why people get so upset about it. And to be honest, I still don't quite get the issue, much less agree fully with the French/EU side.
True, Twank's comment may have been unnecessarily dramatic in magnifying the significance of this particular round of this particular intra-European debate in this particular article. And true, a little reflection and/or a little more informedness (?) might have made him remember or realize that farm subsidies are also an issue the U.S. has the luxury to deal with in a very different manner.
But with all due respect, I'm not quite sure that calling it "not a particularly smart question" was the fairest or most constructive characterization. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
The deal back then was that farm spending was protected until 2013, not that it would be reduced after that date (that was always the UK spin, but it had no reality except in the "reality-making sense", which doesn't realy work on that topic when the opposition is organised enough.
As to the "rebate," go read what it was about - the UK was trying to keep a rebate formula that would have made Poland and other Central European countries pay it money rather than the other way around. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
