Farming at centre of EU budget row

07 December 1998

Farming at centre of EU budget row

THE dispute over the size of the European Unions agricultural budget will come to a head at a two-day summit of European leaders in Vienna later this week.

Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has already set member states against each other as they look for ways to trim the EUs overall budget of Ecu85 billion (£59bn).

One proposal to iron out budgetary disparities is to move spending on agriculture back to national Governments. But this is meeting with fierce resistance.

There are now eight European Union states which back a freeze on spending. This would mean agricultural spending would be capped at just below Ecu40bn a year.

• Financial Times 07/12/98 page 3, page 48
  
• The Guardian 07/12/98 page 2
  
• The Daily Telegraph 07/12/98 page 2