The candidates are strategically located between the old
continent and booming Asia.
EU enlargement is a thinly disguised exercise in mercantilism tinged
with the maudlin ideology of embracing revenant brothers long lost to
communism. But beneath the veneer of civility and kultur lurk the cold
calculations of realpolitik. The applicant countries - the EU's
hinterland - would do well to remember this.
Winning the European CAP
By: Dr. Sam Vaknin
Also published by United Press International (UPI)
According to Herve Gaymard, the French resistance is alive and kicking
- at least with regards to the European Commission's proposed reforms
of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The French
Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs, in a
speech to the misnamed "Real Solutions for the Future" Oxford Farming
Conference last week, drew the battle lines.
France - and six other EU countries - intend to stick religiously to a
deal struck, t?te-…-t?te, between the French president and the German
chancellor last year. The CAP - which now consumes close to half of the
EU's budget - will not be revamped until 2013 at the earliest, though
outlays will be frozen in real terms and, starting in 2006, gradually
diverted from subsidizing production to environmental and other good
causes ("decoupling" and "modulation" in EU jargon).
Pages:
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107