EU:French president Nicolas Sarkozy has called for reform of the common agricultural policy (Cap), the EU farm policy that soaks up one-third of the union's total budget.
In a potentially significant shift in French agricultural policy, Mr Sarkozy told farmers at a cattle fair in Rennes that they had to learn to make a living from market prices rather than subsidies. But he tempered his reforming message with a demand for more European protection for the "strategic" and "essential" farming sector.
"The Cap as it exists today cannot meet the challenges of 2013 onwards - everyone knows it, no one is saying it . . . I want a new Cap because I do not intend to abandon the farmers who do not want to be assisted, who do not want to live on subsidies," said Mr Sarkozy, who is not as close to the farm lobby as former French president Jacques Chirac.
Mr Chirac blocked several attempts by Britain to reform the Cap and reorient EU spending towards other priorities such as boosting competitiveness. The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, often played a key role as an ally to Mr Chirac on farming, and Mr Sarkozy's comments on reform could put a question mark over a Franco-Irish alliance on farm policy.
The Government would not comment on the speech. But Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward said the media should not "jump the gun" on Mr Sarkozy's intentions to reform the Cap until he puts a specific proposal on the table during the French presidency of the EU in 2009.
But Mr Sarkozy's call for a "full reform" of the Cap yesterday was made as the European Commission announced the start of a major review of the union's €120 billion annual budget. This root-and-branch review will look at all elements of the EU budget, but the controversial Cap and the British rebate - a reimbursement to Britain to account for the lower agricultural subsidies that it receives compared to states such as France - will be top priority for Brussels, which wants to avoid the major squabbles between both nations that has marred recent discussions on the union's budgets.
"It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the budget, the way we work," said commission president José Manuel Barroso.
Mr Barroso noted that global food prices were rising and this could be a good reason to propose providing less in subsidies to farmers. But he said the commission would not formulate its formal proposal on budget reform until late 2008 and early 2009.