June 20, 2005

WHEN YOU CAN DO THE RIGHT THING AND SCREW THE FRENCH...:

Blair plans deal to scupper Chirac: Britain assumes the EU presidency next month; the French are already saying it should not be used divisively (Anthony Browne and Philip Webster, 6/21/05, Times of London)

BRITAIN is trying to turn the tables on President Chirac by drawing up plans to trade in its rebate from Brussels in return for guaranteed cuts in farm subsidies.

Tony Blair, who takes over the EU presidency in ten days, is confident that he can win enough allies to force the French President, his main adversary at last week’s Brussels summit, to accept fundamental reforms of Europe’s farming budget. [...]

Under the British plan the Government would agree to scale back its £3 billion-a-year rebate in return for a fundamental review of EU spending in 2008, leading two years later to substantial cuts in the annual €50 billion (£34 billion) Common Agricultural Policy.

The European Commission would be mandated by Britain to draw up reform proposals that would take effect before the end of the next seven-year budget in 2013.

The Government believes that José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, and other key commissioners are generally supportive of the British campaign to refocus EU spending from agriculture to modern competitive industries and research and development.


Exquisite.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 20, 2005 11:12 PM
Comments

While it is nice that Blair will have the upper hand, his goal will still be to create a unified EU. Eventually, with France and Germany at the helm, the EU will resume its anti-US ways. Blair should be blowing it up, not trying to resue it.

Posted by: AWW at June 20, 2005 11:27 PM

Trade deals are an antidemocratic lever that you can use to free up economies. They're problematic ideologically, but good policy economically.

Posted by: oj at June 20, 2005 11:30 PM

Blair's going to be taken for a ride: trading what he's got now for promises. I don't trust them further than I can throw my cat.

Posted by: Ptah at June 21, 2005 5:01 AM

We should not fail to notice that Blair's proposal has nothing to do with free markets. He is just out to waste the money currently spent on agriculture in a different way, retargeting it towards urban rather than rural voters.

His "campaign to refocus EU spending from agriculture to modern competitive industries and research and development" is no more or less than a retreaded version of an earlier Labour Prime Minister's enthusiasm for "the Britain that will be forged in the white heat of (the scientific and technical) revolution" (Harold Wilson, 1963).

This phrase was subsequently shown to be meaningless claptrap designed to conceal the practice of having clueless civil servants attempting to 'pick winners' by throwing subsidies at them. All Britain got for it was a succession of commercial disasters, corruption scandals and 'prestige' projects (including most notably the Concorde).

Does anyone believe for a minute that the politicians and civil servants in Brussels are going to do a better job at this?

Posted by: ZF at June 21, 2005 7:27 AM

An EU which doesn't funnel money to French and German farmers has no chance of survival.

Posted by: bart at June 21, 2005 8:21 AM
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