Britannia Radio

There are two things certain about this.

The first is that nobody should be in the least bit surprised.  
France has always obeyed EU rules only when it suits it.

The second is that for the commision to expect France to "recover the 
money" is a ridiculous thing to expect!  Fine France ?330 if they are 
so minded but to expect a bunch of French farmers to pay back lolly 
they've already spent, some of it 4 years ago gives a new dimension 
to the term "French Farce".

xxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=========================
EUREFERENDUM Blog   29.1.09
Now, there's a surprise!

France has broken the EU's state aid rules by paying more than ?330 
million to its fruit and vegetable sector over 10 years, helping 
various producer organisations to rig market prices and increase 
farmers' income.

The EU commission has been investigating this since 2005 and has now 
concluded that the aid in question "cannot benefit from an 
exemption ... and that they are incompatible with the common market." 
France, therefore, should "proceed to recover the money."

France paid the cash between 1992 and 2002 to ease a glut of fruit 
and vegetables on the domestic market by supporting prices, paying 
for temporary stocking, funding product destruction and giving aid 
for processing.

It may also have subsidised sales of fruit and vegetables outside the 
EU at times of crisis. All of this had favoured France's fruit and 
vegetable production to the detriment of that of other EU countries, 
effectively creating a national market policy superimposed over the 
EU's own market policy - and also interfering with it.

And, when France, as always, tells the EU commission to go and play 
with its marrows, what then?