Farm reform is worth rebate cut, say Lords

16 March 1999

Farm reform is worth rebate cut, say Lords

A CUT in Britains £2 billion-a-year rebate from the European Union (EU) could be worth paying to ensure reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), according to a House of Lords committee.

The committee has warned the government that hanging on to the rebate could wreck plans for CAP reform agreed by European agriculture ministers in Brussels last week.

It proposes relinquishing the rebate and recouping the losses through savings from a reformed CAP, a freeze on EU spending by 2006 and possibly higher EU spending on Britain.

• Farmers could face more subsidy cuts, FWi, 12 March, 1999
• British threat to force dairy reform, FWi, 10 March, 1999
• EU row on the cards over farm aid reform, FWi, 08 October, 1998
• The Independent 16/03/02/99 page 8
  
• Financial Times 16/03/99 page 9
  
• The Daily Telegraph 16/03/99 page 2