Sweden on Tuesday urged the European Union to scrap farm subsidies in future reforms of the bloc's agricultural policy, AP reported. Export subsidies and production quotas should be eliminated in the long term to make European agricultural production more market-oriented, the government said in a letter to the European Commission. The EU should continue, however, to promote biodiversity and rural development, the center-right government said. Agricultural spending accounts for about 40 percent of the EU's budget. Handouts to farmers will not change until at least 2009, when the long-term budget will be reviewed by member states. France, the top recipient of EU farm subsidies, has been hesitant to consider cuts to agriculture payments until after 2013.
