Such rhetorical leaps and pirouettes conceal something more pragmatic: a drive by CAP supporters to find mechanisms that do not involve big subsidies but still stabilise the incomes of farmers.
For the equipment makers, he says, that could mean a modest reduction in overall cap ex and drive a flat 2013, rather than the low-teens growth rate he previously had expected.
Cadaques is a good half hour or more carsick-inducing drive over the high hills of Cap de Creus national park with lay-bys for taking photos or calm nervous stomachs.