Battle lines have been drawn in Brussels between states opposed to Franz Fischler's radical CAP reform proposals and those urging that reform should go further. Agriculture ministers debated Fischler's mid-term review this week. Although the UK government is in favour of radical reform, DEFRA secretary of state Margaret Beckett said the package did "very little to make meaningful savings in the CAP budget", and emphasised that a reduction in the overall bill was essential if the EU was to cope with enlargement in 2004. NFU president Ben Gill met Fischler this week and told him that modulation would be an "unmitigated disaster for British farmers". {{NEWS }}