THE price of trying to bridge the gap between the British and French visions of Europe is getting higher.

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, put forward an expensive compromise yesterday between the two, which could be self-defeating as well. His proposed fund to soften the impact of globalisation sounds like a recipe for making Europe less likely to survive the assaults of globalisation.

But Senhor Barroso’s efforts at least reflect his urgent attempt to get EU countries to agree on the budget, a monster of a contract covering the years 2007 to 2013. Tony Blair said that he would prefer next week’s informal summit at Hampton Court to avoid budget details. He wants to talk about cutting red tape instead.

Mr Blair’s wish is easily granted, no doubt. But by kicking the subject on to the next formal summit in December, he has made it much less likely that we will see a deal during the six months of the British presidency, which ends in December.

That is a change in tone. Only four months ago, he delivered a searing lecture on the need for urgent economic reform to the European Parliament. Since then, stalemate, hence Senhor Barroso’s offering. The core of his plan is the creation of a multibillion-euro fund to soften the social impact of globalisation on certain regions and industrial sectors.

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a response to a charge by President Chirac of France that Brussels has done nothing to help French workers threatened with job cuts by Hewlett Packard, the US computer giant.

But one Western European official said the plan would be greeted with scepticism by anyone of a free-market mindset. It will be seen as a reward for failure to reform, undermining Europe’s ability to compete even further.

It is also unclear where the money would come from. Britain and Germany are among those countries fiercely opposed to any increase in the €100 billion annual budget.

Officials say that Senhor Barroso wants to broker a compromise between the British and French camps within the EU. His plans yesterday included some sops to the British side. He is calling for a profound review of all EU spending during the budget period.

But that is unlikely to be enough to reassure Britain. It wants to see a shift from farm spending, now about 40 per cent of the total, to technology and innovation. As Mr Blair told the European Parliament, Europe cannot compete against China, India, and other emerging economies if it keeps spending so much of its budget on farms.

France is rapidly becoming isolated in its defence of its farmers. Even new members in Central Europe say they recognise that Europe must change.

It does, however, have the support of every EU member (except Britain) in its attack on Britain’s annual “rebate”, the concession negotiated by Margaret Thatcher to prevent Britain paying much more per person than other members.

Britain has had unexpected help this month from President Bush, who has committed the US to scrapping key farm subsidies if Europe does the same. That offer puts pressure on the EU to commit itself to farm reforms before the next Doha Round of trade talks in Hong Kong in December.

It has given Britain another lever with which to prise the EU away from farm support. France’s startled attacks this week on Peter Mandelson, the Trade Commissioner, suggest that it did not see this one coming.

If it were not for the British rebate, Mr Blair would be in a very strong position to try to secure radical reforms. He could then add this to his list of triumphs for this six-month presidency, after his close shave in getting talks on Turkey off the ground.

But the rebate prevents him being a figurehead for the growing movement for reform.

Senhor Barroso’s plans are a testament to his belief in the goal of compromise, but they may well fail in their immediate aim of bridging the French and British positions. Beyond that, by rewarding failure, they could also undermine Europe’s ability to fight back against the challenge of globalisation.

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