EU ticks off France over farm state aid announcement

(BRUSSELS) - European competition watchdogs on Wednesday gave French President Nicolas Sarkozy a ticking-off for announcing a flood of money for its farmers without first informing Brussels.

A European Commission spokesman said it was waiting for "more precise information" on the plan for 650 million euros (975 million dollars) in aid and one billion euros in cheap loans, announced to the media on Tuesday.

Brussels "is waiting for notification," said commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger, adding that it is "customary" to do so first although he also admitted "there is no rule that obliges" states to respect that convention.

France is the European Union's biggest agricultural producer and farming employs 770,000 people, but the heavily state-supported sector is reeling from a 15-percent collapse in prices over the past year.

France is also the biggest beneficiary of the EU's massive farm subsidy system, the Common Agricultural Policy, receiving 10 billion euros last year, ahead of Spain with 7.1 billion and Germany with 6.6 billion.

The French state has been rapped for systematically granting fruit and vegetable farmers funds intended to help cope with short-term crises, and was asked this year to recover 330 million euros paid out between 1992 and 2002.

Paris has defended the practice and demanded more time to address the issue, amid threats of further protests by fruit farmers and market gardeners.