"British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted on Friday he would not accept any deal on a future European Union budget unless other members promised to review agricultural spending earlier than previously agreed."
"Blair, under pressure to strike a deal at an EU summit next week, said he accepted the entire budget could not be changed overnight. But he said the bloc could not be locked into current levels of farm spending until 2013 without a get-out clause.
"I can't agree a deal that doesn't allow the possibility of a fundamental review for this next financial budget period," he told reporters after two days of consultations with EU leaders.
Blair, holder of the rotating EU presidency, will publish new budget proposals next week after many members rejected his initial plans.
But Blair said he would not give ground on a refusal to surrender more of Britain's rebate without a commitment from others to cut farm subsidies awarded under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which benefits France most.
France and other nations, including Ireland, say the EU has signed up to future CAP spending levels until the end of 2013 and that should not be changed.
But Blair said the European Commission should conduct a review of this spending, report back around 2008, and the EU should then have the option of making changes if it wanted to.
His stance makes a deal look difficult and the prime minister said the last week of talks would be tough.
"The overall mood is one of people wanting to reach agreement. But ... there are still some very tough negotiations ahead because the room for manoeuvre is very limited," he said.
Failure to get a deal threatens financial paralysis in the 25-member bloc. New member states, mainly poorer former communist countries, are worried about a delay in urgently needed public investment.
NEW PROPOSALS
EU diplomats in Brussels said the revised proposal was expected on Wednesday, the eve of the summit, leaving foreign ministers nothing new to discuss when they meet on Monday.
Most states rejected plans unveiled on Monday which included a big cut in development funds for the EU's 10 newest members.
Britain also offered to forego 8 billion euros ($9.42 billion) of its rebate and proposed the mid-term spending review, which would cover the CAP.
Most nations want Britain to give up more of its rebate, won by conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it would be hard to reach a deal but he hoped Britain would improve its initial plan, which he had branded unacceptable.
"Now there will be some new proposals," he said. "I hope those proposals will be in the right direction. Hopefully, there will be a solution." He called on all sides to make concessions.
Poland said it was waiting for Britain's new proposals.
"Today, we can expect the Polish reaction will be negative. From what we hear the British want to make some changes but they are not sufficient. But this is not the end of negotiations," Europe minister Jaroslaw Pietras told parliament in Warsaw.
Even if Blair wins over eastern European countries by easing their burden, he still faces opposition from Germany and France.
"We were not satisfied with the British proposal, but for us it is a basis for further discussion. We can work with it and come to our goal," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a visit to Slovakia.
Budget negotiations collapsed at a summit in June when Britain refused to give up any of its rebate, worth 5.6 billion euros this year, without a promise of cuts in farm subsidies."
Source: reuters
12.12.2005