French agricultural minister Jean Glavany looks to be heading for conflict with his own President over plans to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

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Jean-Marc Ayrault, the leader of the Socialist parliamentary group said that on Tuesday, Glavany had spoken to President Jacques Chirac about his refusal to contemplate any reform of the CAP until 2006, when the existing financial agreements are due to be renegotiated.


Chirac had agreed this compromise at the 1999 EU Berlin Summit fearing that reform of CAP, which offers farmers guaranteed subsidies for agricultural product, may offend the powerful French agricultural lobby.


During an informal EU meeting of farm ministers in Sweden last week, Glavany said that CAP was “outdated” and was in need of “reorientation”. The agricultural minister is seeking to shift policy of the French government towards more environmental and food safety concerns. He is likely to push fellow members of the French cabinet to accept German demands for a mid-term review of CAP in 2002.

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