Britain to delay EU subsidy overhaul

THE British will wait until after 2013 for a revamp of European Union agriculture subsidies, the country’s Farm Minister said, backing away from Prime Minister Tony Blair’s calls for faster cuts.

“All people are talking about is the next financial perspective beginning in 2014,” Secretary of State for Agriculture Margaret Beckett said in Brussels yesterday.

Any overhaul is “very unlikely to begin in the first part” of the 2014-2020 EU budget period.

Beckett’s comments clash with Blair’s appeal last month for farm-aid cuts to start as early as 2010. French politicians including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin reacted to that speech by demanding Britain stick to a 2002 deal guaranteeing unchanged payments to farmers until 2013.

At least three lawmakers from the European Parliament’s agricultural committee walked out in protest yesterday as Beckett set out a proposal to scale back the 45% share of EU funds allocated to farmers. Britain holds the presidency of the 25- nation bloc for the next six months, allowing it to shape the policy agenda.

“I’m very disappointed with the way things have gone this afternoon,” Joseph Daul, chairman of the committee said.

Under accords dating back to the 1950s, France is the destination of about a quarter of the €50 billion that the EU spends each year on agriculture.

Negotiations over the EU’s 2007-2013 budget collapsed last month when France balked at cuts to farm subsidies and Britain stood by a rebate won in 1984 to offset Britain’s extremely small receipts from the farm budget.

The refund is now worth €5.2 billion.