"Visegrad Four" statement criticizes EC farm aid offer as discriminating

Poland and three of its Central European neighbors issued a joint declaratio n on Friday, insisting their farmers get a fair deal when they join the Euro pean Union (EU). The statement by the prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, th e Czech Republic and Slovakia, the countries that form the so-called Visegra d Four, is a bid to present a common front in the face of EU reluctance to h and out funds to inefficient farmers. The Visegrad paper repeats, more polit ely, the outrage most candidates expressed at tough funding recommendations made late last month by the European Commission (EC), the EU's executive. Th e EC offered new EU members, when they join, just a quarter of the direct fa rm aid existing members receive. The EU candidates, which would have to wait 10 years to get the full subsidies, say the offer discriminates against them and smacks of a two-tier Europe. In their statement the Visegrad leaders sai d it was odd that Brussels should offer to phase in farm aid over 10 years e ven before a new CAP budget for that period had been set. They also objected to planned milk and sugar output quotas. (Reuters)