France has broken the EU's state aid rules by paying more than €330 million to its fruit and vegetable sector over 10 years, helping various producer organisations to rig market prices and increase farmers' income.

The EU commission has been investigating this since 2005 and has now concluded that the aid in question "cannot benefit from an exemption ... and that they are incompatible with the common market." France, therefore, should "proceed to recover the money."

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Come on, surely it's OK, as the EU belongs to France. They must be granted an exception on the basis because a)they can do what they like and b)there's nothing we can do that will stop them. French contract law is very different from Anglo-Saxon law. A contract can be broken by either party if it is no longer in that party's interest. Why would they submit to EU regulations if it was not in their interest to do so?

The solution should be simple - we just stop paying a calculated proportion of our 'contribution' to EU funds. If that doesn't work initially, then we pay progressivley less. That would sure concentrate minds.
By the way, what about those illegal blockades of French ports many years ago when our transport firms lost much revenue? As I remember, there was much prevarication by France, with all documents needing to be in French and individual claims docmented in minute detail. Was anything ever paid by the French government to our lorry drivers - or was the whole thing conveniently forgotten by our invertebrate government?

Investigating since 2005?......glad to see the wheels of bureaucracy moving at its usual snails pace......and for payments 1992-2002,......I dont think you even have to keep tax records for that long,and all the culprits will be long gone..why do they even bother.

Come come, we are far too critical of our French friends...after all they have definitely earned the right to be arrogant in my view.
Maybe their aircraft carrier ( at least they have one )can only go around in circles...but that's brilliant. Nothing will hit it.
While Armageddonistas are hugging trees & East Euros are freezing for the lack of gas (thank you Gerhard Schröder) which Putin can't find enough of for his own ilk, the Frenchies are expanding their nuclear power industry like it will go out of fashion...as it already has done in 'watermelon' Deutschland & the like.
And now look:

Another example of quintessential French logical brilliance.
Sure they'd be more than happy to lend us that one.
For some time, my favouritest word has been "Abrogation."