Blair in Paris for talks with Chirac
Tony Blair meets French President Jacques Chirac today in what is being billed as a showdown over Britain’s European Union rebate.
In a sign that diplomatic relations are far from congenial, there will be no joint press conference after their private meeting.
Mr Blair is pencilled in meet with the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, and Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, on Tuesday.
Former Tory premier Margaret Thatcher won Britain’s rebate, worth three billion pounds a year, in 1984.
Yesterday, Mr Blair suggested he would review the three billion pounds a year rebate only if EU finances as a whole were radically reformed, including crucially the Common Agriculture Policy.
CAP subsidies primarily benefit French farmers and the British have point out that 40 per cent of the EU’s Budget goes on agriculture, despite the industry only employing five per cent of the EU’s workers.
Even with the rebate, the UK’s net contribution is greater than that of France.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner Peter Mandelson urged the Blair government to consider relinquishing the rebate in a speech last night.
In a Fabian Society lecture in London, the former cabinet minister said ministers ought to be prepared to reform Britain’s rebate.
“For a start it is surely wrong to ask the poorer new accession states to pay for any part of the rebate,” he said.
“Refusal to talk about much needed budget reform is part of the old conservatism in Europe, which the Barroso Commission is determined to change. But Britain should be careful not to play into the hands of this conservatism,” he added.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has promised to veto any change to the rebate, if a diplomatic solution fails to be found.
In Luxemburg last night, he said the entire EU budget was as “wasteful” as it was “unfair”.
