Dear Editor,
One thing that would be worse (and more costly) than the Common Agricultural Policy (leader, 19 May) would be 27 separate agricultural policies with competing subsidies (and the French no doubt giving the biggest handouts to their own farmers to enable them to undercut others, including ours).
Far better to reform the CAP. The recent reforms are significant, and are causing the French to squeal: cutting the CAP's share of the EU budget from 70 percent to 32 percent by 2014, switching from market-distorting production subsidies and price-setting to direct aid to farmers, strengthening environmental requirements and so on. More is needed: phasing out export subsidies, placing a ceiling on single farm payments, and cutting costs still further.
But reform would only justify a renunciation of Britain's rebate if the EU budget as a whole were made more equitable. CAP reform alone would not justify such a step. The small adjustment made by Blair affected only the non-CAP calculation for the new eastern (poorer) member states and was reasonable enough. Any substantial change would require commensurate budgetary reforms.
Yours,
Richard Corbett
Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
Blenheim Terrace, Leeds
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