French minister says Blair dishonest on EU budget

PARIS - French Finance Minister Thierry Breton has accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair of dishonesty and lying in linking London's budget rebate and French farm subsidies during EU budget negotiations.

"If he hadn't said what he said on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) I would have said he was sincere," Breton said on LCI television, referring to Blair's speech last week to the EU Parliament.

"But I must say that when I hear what he said on the CAP, that there was some calculation there. The problem of the British rebate was opposed to the Common Agricultural Policy in terms which were not real or honest," Breton said.

Unlike other sectors, the CAP was financed entirely from EU funds and individual states had stopped all agricultural subsidies, he said. It was therefore misleading to argue that 40 per cent of the EU budget went on farm spending.

"To say there's 40 per cent (of budget spending) goes to two per cent (of the bloc's output), that's a lie," Breton said.

"When you are a politician you must always tell the truth, and...what he said on the CAP was not true."

In a speech to the European Parliament on Thursday setting out his plans for Britain's six-month presidency, which starts on July 1, Blair urged the 25-nation bloc to reform to meet the challenges of the global economy.

Blair said he was not seeking to scrap EU farm subsidies overnight but to reduce them gradually.

EU leaders failed to agree a long-term budget at a summit on June 16 and 17 with many opposing Britain's position that it would not give up its rebate without a major overhaul of the bloc's financing, including farm subsidies.

- REUTERS