31/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Dutch minister for agriculture, Cees Veerman, has admitted that he receives 190,000 EUR per annum from the EU budget on agricultural aid for the farms he owns in his country and in France (Dordogne). The fact that this Minister has spoken out in defence of the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has caused quite a stir in the British press. In the Netherlands, the Greens have called for Mr Veerman to step down and the Liberals, who are allied to the Christian Democrats within the government, have called for the situation to be clarified. According to an article published in Le Monde on 29 August, the head of government, Jan Peter Balkenende, is trying to "calm the situation down by stating that his minister followed official instructions by temporarily handing his duties as land owner over to a third party, a lawyer".