Cur farm aid to one third of budget

The CAP should be cut to about a third of the EU budget rather than well over 40 per cent as at present, according to budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski: Budget . This would then give more headway for spending on research and innovation.

The target is a realistic one, but Lewandowski admitted that the CAP was defended by a strong lobby. The budget negotiations would probablly be the toughest ever.

France will be a stalwart defender of CAP funding and it has many allies but it is interesting to speculate how much French political capital will be depleted by the row over the expulsion of Roma.