Chirac and the German Chancellor have both rejected this week. Britain and France were on collision course for the EU summit after Tony Blair admitted there were "real difficulties" over Britain's rebate following talks with Jacques Chirac. The committee would like to remove this system altogether.Instead it wants to focus cash in a new development fund which would aim to re-structure the rural economies of the countries that joined the EU last year.Lord Renton of Mount Harry, the chairman of the inquiry, said: "The CAP is near breaking point and this tension will increase when the EU grows to 27, or even 28 or 29 member states Drastic changes are necessary.". Under earlier reforms, the incentive for farmers to over-produce has been removed and subsidies are allocated, instead, on the basis of historical receipts. Already, by 2013, only 15 per cent of the CAP will be in market support or export subsidies which have fallen in value from €10bn in 1993 to 3.4bn in 2002.However the committee does not suggest re-opening a 2002 deal which lays down agriculture spending between 2007-13. Ireland has been in recent trouble with the European Commission and European Court of Justice, which have been critical of its failure to control discharges.It has adopted a directive specifying that by 2015 all of its waters should be of good quality, with the elimination of the discharge of various harmful substances..

The Prime Minister has made it clear he will negotiate over the future of the UK's €4.6bn (£3bn) annual budget rebate only if there is a re-examination of farm spending, which costs the EU about €44bn a year - something ruled out by France which gets 20 per cent of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) receipts.The Lords report calls for for massive acceleration of the reforms to the CAP that have already taken place.The committee calls for the elimination, as soon as possible, of all export subsidies, and intervention in financial markets to support prices. An overhaul of Europe's farm spending policies is proposed by a parliamentary committee today, as Tony Blair prepares to put the future of agriculture spending at the heart of a fierce Anglo-French dispute. A report from the House of Lords environment and agriculture committee, calls for the phasing out of the biggest element of EU farm spending - direct payments to farmers - from 2013.The document suggests dismantling the current system and replacing it with an alternative model which encourages a broader range of countryside activities.Its findings come as Mr Blair prepares for tomorrow's summit showdown over EU financing. Nitrate concentrations were found to be significantly above natural levels in several areas, particularly the south and south-east. While instances of serious pollution in rivers and streams have been reduced, 12 per cent of samples were classed as moderately polluted and a further 18 per cent were classed as slightly polluted.A warning in the report said that intermittent contamination appeared to be relatively widespread, posing a risk for those drinking from such waters without sterilisation.The conditions in Irish lakes were found to be markedly better, with 91 per cent of lake water deemed satisfactory and all designated freshwater bathing areas fully complying with regulations. For these reasons the authorities are likely to make a priority of reducing both agricultural and sewage pollution.Farmers have long been locked in argument with anglers and environmentalists about the amount of phosphates and nitrates used in agriculture. The west and the south receive generally good reports, though an exception is the Shannon basin on the Atlantic, where conditions have deteriorated.The Environment Minister, Dick Roche, said: "We must address every source of pollution - agriculture, urban waste water, industry or any other activity."The report pointed the finger at agricultural run-offs and municipal discharges, prompting calls for more thorough treatment of sewage and a generally improved performance by local authorities.A number of improved water treatment plants have started operation since the research was done, so that additional improvement may be under way.The Irish take pride in living in a country which they regard as particularly green in the environmental sense of the word. They are also aware that the tourist industry could be damaged if the Republic should lose its largely unspoilt image.

Almost one-third of the country's waterways - famous among anglers the world over - suffer from a degree of contamination, according to a report which is causing concern in a country that prides itself on its environment. Although most of the Republic's water quality is given a clean bill of health, a significant number of rivers are polluted, together with a smaller percentage of lakes. The highly detailed report paints a picture of a country which has made some effort to address water problems, but which is struggling to improve standards in a number of areas.The report, from the Environmental Protection Agency, said that over- enrichment of rivers, lakes and tidal waters was the main threat, adding that advances made in the 1990s had not been sustained.The main difficulties tend to be in the more heavily populated east of the Irish Republic - the Barrow and the Boyne are particularly badly hit - with more sparsely populated areas such as the south-west having many fewer problems. The price of Ireland's headlong race for modernisation is being paid in polluted rivers. The daily Trud (Labour) newspaper commented: "It's strange to see such enthusiasm .. [for] stripping Russia's museums. It's estimated that during the war, the Hitlerites destroyed and looted 427 museums in the USSR.". Russia is estimated to have 260,000 pieces of "trophy art" acquired by the Red Army, three million archive items and 1.5 million books.Moves to return such art remain deeply controversial in Russia. "The claims came from Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ukraine," he said.Controversially, Mr Vilkov said Russia had agreed to return a collection of paintings to the Netherlands which are currently housed in Moscow's Pushkin Museum.