No common ground
The eu's attempt to reform its Common Agricultural Policy (cap) has come a cropper. France blocked the latest compromise proposal taken up at the union's Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on June 18 in Luxembourg. On June 20, French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have said at the eu summit in Thessaloniki, Greece, that the new proposals were unacceptable to domestic farmers. The eu accounts for half the farm subsidies in the developed world and the results of these parleys will determine the outcomes of the agricultural negotiations in the World Trade Organization (wto) meet in Cancun this year.
The plan under consideration was mooted by Franz Fischler, commissioner for agriculture and fisheries, European Commission (ec). A key element of his proposal was the "decoupling' of farm subsidies from production. This would reduce direct aid to French farmers, the largest beneficiaries under the cap. It may be noted that the proposed plan calls for only partial decoupling in certain sectors.
It also includes elements such as linking future payments to compliance with environmental and food security, animal welfare, health and occupational safety standards, and a reduction in direct payments to bigger farms to generate money for rural development.
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