CAP, Rebates and the EU

[RogueTrooper]

The last couple of days has seen a fair amount of 'colourfull' language passing between the UK and France.

What are people's thoughts on this?

For myself, I guess that Chirac is desperatly trying to deflect attention from his recent electoral humiliation. My guess is that Chirac figures he is on a win-win with this one: If Britain gives up the rebate he can claim victory ( whilst quietly burying his recent electoral humiliation ); if Britain does not give up the rebate then he can claim that the UK is the real obstacle to European integration ( and not his recent electoral embarassment ).

Personally, I think new Labour is a more effective electoral and campaigning machine than Chirac is used to facing.

[Vladimir]

1. I think its all a bit of posturing

Britain ain't giving up the rebate, France ain't giving up the CAP, both need a bit of hatered-of-the-other for domestic consumption...

[tjwmason]

3. This is frequently the way of multilateral decision making.

They'll find a couple of minor and pretty unrelated concessions which both sides can make, then it's trumpeted as a victory for internal politics.

[Taxloss]

4. I agree.

How convenient that this storm should appear now, with Chirac desperate to impress the man on the Chartres omnibus and Blair getting his brief moment of looking like a defender of the European ideal for the consumption of the UK soft left and centre.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. In Blair's favour is that his position has cross party support here

No one in Britain likes the CAP apart from the odd farmer that gets rich out of it (I'm sure something far cheaper could be fashioned to keep small farmers solvent). And no party is likely to suggest paying more to the EU just for the sake of harmony, while France (and, looking at the figures, Spain) does so well out of the CAP.

I think you're right that Chirac is using it to try and bounce back from the referendum. And I agree that it's going to be tough for Chirac to get any change on this - Blair also has Mandelson as EU Trade Commissioner, which is quite helpful for him (since the CAP has implications for external trade, Mandelson can stick his oar in when he wants to).

If Chirac has actually brought this up before his referendum, it might have helped him a bit - made it look like he was fighting the rich Anglo-Saxons. And Blair might have hesitated before such a public argument then. But Chirac's missed his chance now, I think. It'll be a standoff, with no change from now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Mandelson: UK must end 'Thatcher tone on EU'

Shows how attuned my political instincts are ... :dunce:

The UK Government must stop sounding like Margaret Thatcher in its negotiations in Brussels, European Commission Peter Mandelson has said.

In a speech in London, Mr Mandelson said the UK had to change both tone and substance to win backing in Europe.

The UK must be ready to look at reforming its rebate as part of a deeper rethink of EU spending, he said.

"It is surely wrong to ask the poorer new accession states to pay for any part of the rebate," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4089546.stm

Looks like Mandelson has gone native. Either that, or there's some Machiavellian intrigue going on.

[Kipling]

6. If Mandelson likes it, it stinks.

A good rule of thumb, I find.