Ministers fight CAP changes

A MAJOR toning down of the radical Fischler CAP proposals is inevitable, after overwhelming opposition emerged at last Monday's Council of agriculture ministers in Brussels.

France's President Chirac, a former agriculture minister, may insist on the postponement of any changes until 2006, when the EU's structural funds will be up for negotiation, bringing more bargaining chips to the table.

Nearly all 15 EU farm ministers expressed misgivings last Monday, as the proposals got their first public airing .