German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday firmly backed France's rejection of calls for cuts to European Union farm subsidies while telling Britain to show "flexibility" over cutting its annual multi-billion euro rebate from Brussels, dpa reported. Speaking at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the German leader was blunt in his support for French President Jacques Chirac's demand that Paris keep its annual farm subsidy payment worth about 10 billion euros (12 billion dollars). "As far as Germany is concerned, we stick to agreements struck," said Schroeder, who noted that European Union leaders had unanimously agreed on a farm spending deal in 2003 for the period through 2013. This accord, the Chancellor stressed, had paved the way for last year's E.U. enlargement in which 10 mainly east European states joined the bloc. Chirac has bluntly dismissed calls to cut farm spending before 2013. E.U. agriculture subsidies gobble up about 40 per cent of the bloc's annual budget of 100 billion euros. --More 2334 Local Time 2034 GMT
