Common Market Cuts Agriculture Funding

BRUSSELS — The 12-nation European Economic Community agreed Wednesday on a program to cut the farm spending that has thrown it into a $6-billion deficit, but the pact was overshadowed by a bitter political feud between Britain and its 11 partners.

The agreement by the agriculture ministers of the EEC came a day after a summit meeting of the group’s leaders produced deadlock and a round of recriminations.

Even Wednesday’s pact was not greeted with much enthusiasm. The aim was to reduce the ever-growing agriculture spending that consumes 70% of the Common Market’s annual budget. The program, known as the Common Agriculture Program, supports farmers by guaranteeing certain prices for their products, with the governments storing the excess.

This practice has resulted in huge stockpiles of most basic commodities, including enough butter to meet the needs of all 12 nations for two years.

The farm ministers hailed the deal as a major step toward reforming the Common Agriculture Program. But Common Market officials said that freezing or cutting the guaranteed prices for most farm produce was a modest step and would not reduce food surpluses.

Nor will Europeans pay less for food, since there is no direct link between store prices and the support prices paid to the 12 million farmers in the EEC. The new deal will only slow the soaring growth in farm spending.

Officials estimated the agreement would save only $420 million from a total EEC farm budget next year of about $26 billion.

Officials had hoped to save $1 billion this year and $4 billion in 1988-89 by overhauling various technical aspects of the system. But, as usual, the goal ran afoul of national political interests.