Brussels, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - German Green, Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf stated in a press release published on the eve of the European Council that “pressure from Germany and France on prime minister Blair” over the British rebate of 1984 will only be effective if Germany and France agree to restructuring the EU agricultural budget in favour of rural development. According to the former present (and current vice president) of the European Parliament agriculture committee, “we are proposing a model that should facilitate a compromise” namely an agricultural budget that equally finances direct payments to farmers (who “are not a long term prospect”) and rural development (“making rural development more European as part of the Lisbon Agenda is reasonable as 57% of the EU's population lives in the countryside”.