French President Jacques Chirac called Monday on EU member countries to "pay its fair share" in the financing of the enlarged European Union (EU) in its 2007-2013 budget and hoping for an agreement by the end of 2005.

"I want an agreement to be reached, if possible by the end of the year, based on the proposals of the Luxembourg presidency, which respects the agreements already made," he said at an annual meeting of French ambassadors.

He said the 2007-2013 budget's priority should be "solidarity with new member states so that they can, as was the case in the past, catch up with the standard of living of their partners and experience progress the whole union will benefit from."

The dispute over the 60-billion-dollar subsidies to European farmers each year was one of the reasons why negotiations on the EU's 2007-2013 budget collapsed at the last EU summit in June.

At the time Chirac called for canceling London's 5-billion-euro annual rebate from Brussels, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would only be willing to discuss the rebate if the EU reduces farm subsidies, which represent 40 percent of the bloc's budget, with France as the biggest beneficiary.

Over Europe's future, Chirac said that at the informal gathering of heads of state to be hosted by Tony Blair in October "France will insist on the need for updated and responsive institutions."

"I will strongly reaffirm the French vision of a Europe (that is) political, ambitious, social and caring. A vision that France shares with Germany and which our two nations, the irreplaceable force behind the construction of Europe, will continue to hold together," he said.

"Europe's future is not to be a huge free-trade zone swimming in a globalized economy. It is above all a political project founded on shared values," said the French president.

Source: Xinhua