P.M. BRIEFING : EC Approves Farm Subsidy Cuts
European Community ministers agreed on a package of cuts in farm subsidies, unblocking stalled world trade talks, officials said today.
Italian ministers said the vote, after two days of intense talks, was unanimous.
EC ministers met six times previously without reaching agreement on proposals by the EC’s Executive Commission.
The deadlock on cutting subsidies for European farmers had threatened the entire four-year round of world trade talks. The talks, part of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, are due to end in December.
Earlier, EC officials and diplomats had said France, the community’s biggest agricultural producer, was causing the stalemate. No details were immediately available on the agreement reached.
The EC had been the only major participant in the GATT talks to have failed to submit a reform plan for farm trade.
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