ìFrance Splits With Europe Over Farm Subsidy Plan,î by Paul Meller, New York Times, 11 May, p. W1.

EU finally seems on verge of breaking internal deadlock on lowering farms subsidies as demanded by such New Core powers as India and Brazil, who formed the core of the Group of 20-plus that brought the Cancun WTO summit to a standstill last September by staging a walkout protest over the Old Coreís intransigence on this bitterly contested subject. Guess who just canít seem to go along? France, of course. France is the biggest farming nation in the EU.

This is protectionism pure and simple, so hold your nose the next time Paris lectures the U.S. about doing better by the Gap.