France, which gets one-fifth of EU farm payments, believes that those changes - cutting the link between the level of subsidy and the amount farmers produce - went far enough. Directly addressing French concerns, Mr Mandelson said: "There was a suggestion by France that the proposals we are making are outside the commission's negotiating mandate. It is a matter for France to make that claim and sustain it. We are quite sure that the undertakings the EU has offered are within the terms of the 2003 CAP reform."
What we need to recall is that this threatens certain aspects of the French way of life: the traditional market with its farm produce and the traditional boulangeries and patisseries etc may not fare well without the subsidies which uphold French agriculture in its inefficiencies. This is a way of life we often admire. We have to, we're helping to pay for it! I'm sorry but it can't go on and the French, bless 'em, will have to get used to the idea that certain things will have to change.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | EU offers to slash farm subsidies: On Del.icio.us: EU, CAP, G20, development, Doha, WTO, reform, agriculture, farming, fair_trade, Make_Poverty_History
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