EU must keep CAP to protect food security, warns Paris

Thierry Breton, France's finance minister, describes himself as a "modern" politician happy to talk the language of technology and finance, as comfortable discussing internet telephony as international public offerings.

But the former chief executive of France Telecom sounds decidedly "old-fashioned" when discussing the Common Agricultural Policy - at least within the terms of the debate framed by Tony Blair, UK prime minister.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Breton is as ardent as any French minister in arguing that the CAP is essential for Europe's future and must not be sacrificed at the altar of the World Trade Organisation.

And he challenges Mr Blair's categorisation of the CAP as "spending of the past", describing it as a modern, forward-looking policy, essential for safeguarding the security of Europe's food chain.

The former maths teacher and science fiction author is an unlikely champion of French farmers. He started his own software company, Forma-Syst