BELGIUM: FRENCH FARMERS REMAIN ADAMANT THAT A REDUCTION IN EU FARMING SUBSIDIES WOULD FORCE THEM OUT OF BUSINESS
Record ID:
648883
BELGIUM: FRENCH FARMERS REMAIN ADAMANT THAT A REDUCTION IN EU FARMING SUBSIDIES WOULD FORCE THEM OUT OF BUSINESS
- Title: BELGIUM: FRENCH FARMERS REMAIN ADAMANT THAT A REDUCTION IN EU FARMING SUBSIDIES WOULD FORCE THEM OUT OF BUSINESS
- Date: 14th June 2005
- Summary: (EU) PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/CU OF JEAN MICHEL LE METAYER, PRESIDENT OF FARMERS' UNIONS FEDERATION IN HIS OFFICE (3 SHOTS) 0.13 2. MCU (French) JEAN MICHEL LE METAYER, PRESIDENT OF FARMERS' UNIONS FEDERATION SAYING: "Great Britain's position aims at keeping the budgetary advantages they negotiated at the time when they joined the European Union. We all remember Margaret Thatcher's statement 'I want my money back'. To defend a position reasons are always needed, and Tony Blair found nothing better than to attack the European agricultural policy." 0.44 3. CU OF AGRICULTURE DICTIONARY 0.47 4. MCU (French) JEAN MICHEL LE METAYER, PRESIDENT OF FARMERS' UNIONS FEDERATION SAYING: "There may be differences at the level of Heads of State, specially in the British position, but there is unanimity at an agricultural level across the 25 countries to defend the agricultural policy in its current form." 1.02 5. CU BOOKS ON SHELF 1.06 6. MCU (French) JEAN MICHEL LE METAYER, PRESIDENT OF FARMERS' UNIONS FEDERATION SAYING: "It is totally out of the question that during the budgetary negotiations that the Heads of State will discuss for 2007 to 2013, any steps could be taken to go back over what was already decided in 2002 nor to sacrifice agriculture in the negotiation. Just as much as it is unacceptable to sacrifice agriculture in front of the World Trade Organisation. We do not accept, and will never accept, to become a pawn in such negotiation." 1.42 (EU) MAULERS, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. PAN FIELDS 1.52 8. SLV FARMER XAVIER TALPE WALKING ACROSS HIS FIELDS 2.00 9. CLOSEUP OF XAVIER TALPE 2.03 10. CLOSEUP OF XAVIER TALPE'S HAND HOLDING EAR OF CORN 2.08 11. MCU (French) XAVIER TALPE, FARMER, SAYING: "I have a vegetable farm where I grow corn, beet, linen, colza and peas, and the aid I receive is important because it exceeds my profits. If the aid is suspended I will not be able to continue the fight, I will have to close down my farm and do something else. And the case is the same for every farmer in France as well as in Europe" 2.38 12. CLOSEUP OF CROP IN FIELD 2.43 13. MCU (French) XAVIER TALPE, FARMER, SAYING: "If the aid is reduced, eventually agriculture will not survive. In France, like in several other countries who have an agricultural vocation, the Common Agricultural Policy is very important, it is vital for us" 3.10 14. PAN CORN FIELD 3.22 15. MCU (French) XAVIER TALPE, FARMER, SAYING: "We have the feeling that France receives more than the others and that is normal because in France there are many more farmers and a much larger agricultural surface, but proportionally we do not receive more: each farmer receives the same amount as those in any other country" 3.42 (EU) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 14, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 16. LAS/SLV EXTERIORS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 3.49 17. MCU (English) PAUL MAGNET, ANALYST AND DIRECTOR OF THE EUROPEAN STUDIES INSTITUTE, SAYING: "There were good historical reasons in the 1950s when it was a big German/French agreement and what the Germans won in terms of steel and coal the French could win in terms of agriculture, but then the situation has changed. Now Europe has arrived at a level of agricultural self sufficiency, so that we don't need the CAP as much as we needed it in the 1950's and France has no reason to get so much money from the EU budget any more. So in this case we have to re-negotiate the whole thing, not just the British rebate but also the big benefits that one member state draws from one big policy" 4.24 18. CU EUROPEAN FLAGS FLYING OUTSIDE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING 4.28 19. SLV EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING 4.32 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PARIS AND MAULERS, FRANCE, AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City:
- Country: Belgium
- Reuters ID: LVABPMWP6PE9ZCDBPV07IXI9QLNJ
- Story Text: French farmers remain adamant that a reduction in EU
farming subsidies would force them out of business.
As the heads of state of the European Union
countries gathered in Brussels for a crucial summit on the
future of the Union's constitution and budget on Thursday
(June 16), a bitter battle between France and Great Britain
concerning agricultural subsidies continued gathering
strength threatening to doom any chances of agreement
during the meeting.
At the centre of the dispute is the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP), of which France is the biggest beneficiary.
Under enormous pressure from French farmers, French
President Jacques Chirac is refusing to countenance any
cuts to the levels of planned farm subsidies agreed by EU
leaders in Brussels in 2002, which, in effect, capped
spending at current levels until 2013. At the time, the
deal was considered necessary to pave the way for the 2004
"big bang" accession of 10 states, most of which have big
farm sectors.
Jean Michel Le Metayer, president of the powerful
Federation of Farmers Unions, said, "It is totally out of
the question that during the budgetary negotiations that
the Heads of State will discuss for 2007 to 2013, any steps
could be taken to go back over what was already decided in
2002 nor to sacrifice agriculture in the negotiation. Just
as much as it is unacceptable to sacrifice agriculture in
front of the World Trade Organisation. We do not accept,
and will never accept, to become a pawn in such
negotiation," Le Metayer told Reuters Television one day
before the start of the Brussels summit.
Tony Blair, however, is equally adamant when it comes
to his defence of Britain's 4.6 billion euros average
annual rebate from the EU budget, secured in 1984 by
Margaret Thatcher, on the grounds that Britain receives so
little from the EU budget in farm support and regional
subsidies.
The battle over the rebate has become something of a
grudge match between Chirac and Blair, with Blair declaring
that he will only move on the rebate if CAP funding is
drastically reduced.
Like most French farmers, Xavier Talpe, from Maulers,
insisted that a reduction in EU farming subsidies and any
future change in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy would
force him and other farmers both across France and the
European Union out of business.
Talpe's farm is 156 hectares in size, which is slightly
larger than the average French farm. Situated in the small
village of Maulers, not far from Beauvais in northern
France, the farm has been in his family for generations.
"If the aid is reduced, eventually agriculture will not
survive. In France, like in several other countries who
have an agricultural vocation, the Common Agricultural
Policy is very important, it is vital for us," said Talpe.
Talpe grows mainly wheat, beet and flax. He says that
wheat is grown on about 50% of his land, with around 25% of
the land being used to grow beet and 10% to grow flax. The
remaining land is either lying fallow or being used to grow
peas and other crops.
"We have the feeling that France receives more than the
others and that is normal because in France there are many
more farmers and a much larger agricultural surface, but
proportionally we do not receive more: each farmer receives
the same amount as those in any other country", Talpe said.
Paul Magnet, analyst and director of the European
Studies Institute in Brussels, strongly disagrees with the
farmers' claim. He considers that the CAP, while it proved
its worth as a mechanism for diverting German money to
French farmers in exchange for better access to French
markets for German manufactured goods in the 1950's, is no
longer justifiable.
"Now Europe has arrived at a level of agricultural self
sufficiency, so that we don't need the CAP as much as we needed it in
t
he 1950's and France has no reason to get so
much money from the EU budget any more. So in this case we
have to re-negotiate the whole thing, not just the British
rebate but also the big benefits that one member state
draws from one big policy," said Magnet.
Thanks to pressure from world trading partners, the EU
has reformed its Common Agricultural Policy in recent
years, and Brussels now largely supports the incomes of
farmers rather than the prices of their crops, diverting
more of its overall farm budget into general rural
development. While some of those who would like to see the
CAP amount reduced suggest that member states should pay
for more of the social aids to farmers, a strong argument
against re-nationalising agriculture is that it would
trigger a horrendous subsidy war.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None