distorting farm export subsidies. But that ambition, along with a bid to liberalise services across the 25-member bloc, puts him on collision course with French President Jacques Chirac. France is the main beneficiary of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Chirac, in trouble politically at home, is equally adamant that a 2002 deal that locks in farm subsidies until 2013 cannot be reopened. Germany also opposes wider budgetary reform although German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is expected to lose an election expected in September. Peter Hintze, European affairs spokesman for Germany's conservatives, who are favoured to win the election, said on Friday Blair deserved "full support" for seeking to improve European competitiveness. But he made clear a conservative government in Berlin may not see fully eye to eye with London, saying Britain would have to make its contribution in order to reach a EU budget deal and should think again about offering Turkey full EU membership.
