There’s been another party going on in Paris, and it wasn't the one peopled on Wednesday night by joyous Scots. One or two optimistic lovers of nature are celebrating new French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conversion to our New Way for Europe-wide farming. That’s the one where wildlife thrives alongside productive agriculture; where farmers take charge not just of how much they can sell but also of the species their land hosts and the way their land looks. Remember? The President engineered a brilliant piece of media manipulation on Tuesday when he talked of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. In, he said, was the promise of change after 2013 with talks beginning next year. In, also, was the warning that farmers could no longer rely on the subsidy prop but would instead have to work for decent market prices. Out, however, was any chance of Europe-wide protectionism being in any way dismantled. And out was any mention of wildlife although the role of farming in helping combat climate change was at least given a passing nod. This all sounds too familiar to our colleagues across the Channel, all too used to the policies of Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac. For food security, read support for EU production. For feeding the world, read boosts for French farm exports. For maintaining French traditions and landscape, read subsidies for French wine growers and for action to tackle climate change, read biofuels. Enough said. Pretending to be interested in radical change may or may not be an improvement on the policies of the reactionary Chirac. But let’s wait and see before uncorking the Champagne.
Click here for the Financial Times’ report on President Sarkozy’s plans.