The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh, made no attempt last night to disguise Ireland's disappointment with the German budget proposals for the Agenda 2000 reform package. "The cards are stacked against us," he said. Mr Walsh acknowledged that Ireland was in a minority in opposing the new proposal for subsidising farming but he claimed that five or six member-states had moved towards the Irish position. The proposal involves a cut in direct aid payments that would cost Irish farmers between £78 million and £104 million over the next seven years.
The Irish Farmers' Association leader, Mr Tom Parlon, said: "If we lose a further £100 million, it would take the gloss totally off the deal." Irish officials expressed extreme dissatisfaction with a proposal to cut structural and cohesion funds that would allocate less than £3 billion to Ireland over the next seven years, with £500 million for regionalisation but no transitional funds. This would the east and south of the country, which are to lose their status as regions eligible for maximum EU funding.
If Irish officials were unhappy with the latest German package, their British counterparts were looking more cheerful as the night wore on. Under the German plan, Britain's budget rebate would remain, even if it does not benefit from windfall gains from changes to the EU financing system.
The four countries that believe they pay too much towards the EU budget - Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden - will from now on pay only a quarter of their previous share of the British rebate. This places a larger burden on southern countries and on France, which is generally unhappy with the reform package.
The French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, was reported to have told the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, that he was prepared to leave Berlin without an agreement and to resume negotiations at the final summit of the German presidency in June.
Spain dismissed the German proposal as utterly unacceptable.
