A SENIOR British ambassador has lambasted our European Union partners in undiplomatic language, blaming them for farm subsidies that âbloatâ rich French landowners, âpump up food pricesâ and create poverty in Africa. In an e-mail to colleagues seen by The Sunday Times, Charles Crawford, the ambassador to Poland, mocks âmon amiâ Jacques Chirac and the Poles for selfishly blocking Tony Blairâs attempts to secure a face-saving deal on the European budget. His sardonic tone will embarrass Blair as he seeks to reach agreement this week at a key summit. Some will see his exasperation as revealing what ministers privately think. | He'll embarrass Blair, and the content of the email will be disregarded... |
âWe like you so much that we are proposing in the budget a huge new transfer of funds to you on a scale which will give your people the greatest boost in 1,000 years.â In a jibe at David Cameron, the new Conservative leader, the ambassador imagines Blair or Straw saying: âI will be attacked by my scary new teenage Tory opposition for building roads and hospitals in Poland and Hungary, rather than in poor areas of the UK.â
The memo was sent last week to Kim Darroch, Blairâs European policy adviser, and Nicola Brewer, head of EU policy at the Foreign Office. Much of it represents Crawfordâs blackly humorous opinions on what Blair should tell other European ministers. He suggests putting a childrenâs alarm clock on the conference table and giving delegates an hour to accept Britainâs offer. If it is not accepted, he suggested, Britain would be able to walk away with its rebate intact. It would then be able to use money that it was prepared to deduct from its rebate to fund projects directly in former eastern bloc countries. Crawford estimates that it would be equivalent to twice as much spent through the EU and that Britainâs help would go much further, faster and more efficiently to the countries concerned. There will not be the loss of money in âall the bollocky EU bureaucracyâ and âsticky transaction costs, local and Brussels corruption, overheads and other rubbishâ.
Crawford describes the common agricultural policy (CAP) as âthe most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take communismâ. The e-mail lays bare the frustration in the British government at stalling by France and Poland ahead of this weekâs make-or-break EU summit. Failure to reach a deal on the budget will be disappointing for Blair, who has little to show for Britainâs six-month presidency. The prime minister has offered to give up part of the annual £3.8 billion British rebate in return for France and other nations agreeing to reform the âunfairâ CAP which benefits their farmers. Chirac and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the Polish prime minister, have shown little sign of compromising on the budget proposals for 2007-13. Blair said on Friday that hopes for a deal were fading and such a failure would âcast a real shadowâ over EU enlargement. Crawfordâs e-mail, sent at 5.36am last Thursday to officials at No 10 and the Foreign Office, displays his frustration.