But Tony Blair has now gone on the counter-offensive, raising the stakes himself. Britain, he says, might be prepared to put the British rebate on the table, but only if the French are prepared to remove the reasons for it by means of a radical renegotiation of EU farm policy.
英国政府的第一反应是英国的减免额度不容商榷：这在1984年和现在都是合理的。而布莱尔现在也提了高筹码，对法国还以颜色。他表示，只有当法国准备就欧盟的农业政策进行彻底的再谈判，从而消除减免额度存在的理由时，英国才可能会将这一问题放到谈判桌上。