The Two Europes

The question was European farm policy, the setting a European Union summit. Tony Blair, the British prime minister, was lamenting the hollowness of the EU’s professed commitment to free trade. How, Blair wondered, could the EU justify its lavish subsidies to European farmers?

This was too much for Jacques Chirac. The French president apparently regarded Blair’s criticism of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy as a personal insult. (French farmers are among the program’s prime beneficiaries.) “You’ve been very rude to me,” Chirac was quoted as telling Blair afterward. “No one has ever spoken to me like this.” He was also reported to have accused Blair of being “badly brought up.”

About the Author

Michael Knox Beran

Michael Knox Beran, a lawyer and writer, is the author of WASPs: The Splendors and Miseries of an American Aristocracy.

The question was European farm policy, the setting a European Union summit. Tony Blair, the British prime minister, was lamenting the hollowness of the EU’s professed commitment to free trade. How, Blair wondered, could the EU justify its lavish subsidies to European farmers?

This was too much for Jacques Chirac. The French president apparently regarded Blair’s criticism of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy as a personal insult. (French farmers are among the program’s prime beneficiaries.) “You’ve been very rude to me,” Chirac was quoted as telling Blair afterward. “No one has ever spoken to me like this.” He was also reported to have accused Blair of being “badly brought up.”