British Prime Minister Tony Blair renewed his attack on European Union farm subsidies that mainly benefit France by saying the bloc needed a long-term budget which would allow it to face global challenges. Blair, who assumed the rotating EU presidency on Friday, said the 25-member bloc's social model should be modernised and quick action was needed in several areas including jobs, higher education, training, and innovation, according to Reuters. "This implies that we have a budget which reflects these realities," he said in an article written for Le Figaro newspaper, released on Sunday before publication on Monday. "A modern budget is not a budget which, in 10 years, will still dedicate 40 percent to CAP (Common Agricultural Policy)." Blair won support from the Frenchman who is the new president of EU business lobby UNICE and who said CAP had been the basis for EU construction for 50 years but needed reform. "You cannot consider that CAP can continue to be the basis for European construction in 2005. You have to change it and also say that can no longer be the priority," Ernest-Antoine Seilliere told Le Figaro, according to an advance copy. --More 2306 Local Time 2006 GMT
