Thursday, May 24, 2007

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

France's new president Nicolas Sarkozy has aligned himself firmly with traditional French thinking on the CAP. He warned that he expected the EU to take a much tougher stance in global trade talks and said that he would not allow his country's farmers to be sold 'at the lowest possible price.'

He said that he would not allow cuts in support for European farmers while their US counterparts benefited from the same policies. Trade offs did not interest him: 'I'm not going to sell agriculture to get a better opening for services.' Mr Sarkozy said he as not going to be 'boxed in' if others failed to make reciprocal offers.

With the Doha Round talks seemingly making little real progress, Mr Sarkozy has dashed hopes that he might to talk a more flexible approach to cutting EU farm tariffs than his predecessor.

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