GERMAN Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, and French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, yesterday reaffirmed their joint support for a European Union single currency as planned in 1999 and said EU's farmers needed help now.
The two men, meeting at Dr Kohl's bungalow next to the Bonn chancellery, said there was no reason to consider wavering from the Maastricht Treaty's strict criteria despite what the German leader called some light and shadows" in their economics.
They gave no hint of what the EU could do for farmers, especially in the cattle sector where sales have been hit badly by "mad cow" disease in Britain, but said European agriculture ministers meeting in mid September would address the problem.
"We are both determined to meet the criteria of the Maastricht treaty without delay," Dr Kohl said before they began dinner. "It is our common goal and we will reach it together.
President Chirac, standing at his side said: "The Germans and the French will be at the same rendezvous at the same time and under the same conditions."
Financial markets have become increasingly worried that France, plagued by a stagnant economy and record unemployment, may be falling behind in its attempts to cut public spending.
Equally worrying for the French government are signs that the autumn of discontent which last year undermined its attempts to slash the welfare budget could be repeated.
Bonn faces a struggle of its own to get its budget deficit inside the limits required to qualify for monetary union (EMU) in 1999. However, so far it has been more effective than Paris in pushing through welfare cuts against massive union opposition.
Both Dr Kohl and President Chirac played down recent pressure on the French franc.
They emphasised that the next meeting of EU agriculture ministers on September 16th must address the growing problems facing European farmers.
Germany and France shared the view that there would have to be an agreement within the European Union between the so called "ins" and "outs" to prevent this, President Chirac said.
