Dutch leader backs Cap reform
Tony Blair has won support from the Dutch premier over his plans to radically reform the EU budget.
Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende criticised the EU’s £31 billion farm subsidies and urged European leaders to focus on reform in the interests of ordinary citizens.
Writing in The Guardian, Mr Balkenende drew attention to the “rivers of subsidies flowing” to farmers.
“Do we want an EU that focuses primarily on consolidation of vested interests, or one that pursues reform and displays solidarity with the less prosperous member states and the world around it?” Mr Balkenende wrote.
Mr Blair has said he wants the UK’s six-month presidency of the EU to focus on reform of the budget – in particular farm subsidies.
Budget negotiations collapsed acrimoniously last month with Mr Blair refusing to give up the £3 billion rebate and the French president Jacques Chirac refusing to move on agricultural subsidies.
