Unity sought ahead of WTO talks

BRUSSELS - EU ministers struggled on Friday to show a united front ahead of vital WTO trade negotiations next week with Ireland and France deeply concerned Europe may have conceded too much on agriculture. French Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac said after a meeting with EU counterparts that they agreed that the WTO talks needed a “new balance” to take better account of concessions Europe had already put on the table.

We have “a common goal, which is to obtain a new balance in the concessions that the Union has already made” to the World Trade Organisation, she told journalists after chairing the meeting in Brussels. EU ministers met in Brussels to prepare Europe’s stance ahead of talks in Geneva starting today, where 30 leading WTO nations will try to salvage long-floundering trade liberalisation negotiations.

France has long railed against Europe making big concessions on agriculture, but as holder of the EU presidency was careful to tone down its rhetoric on agriculture. Clashes between Brussels and Paris have become commonplace over the years at each important phase of the WTO talks, with both current President Nicolas Sarkozy and his predecessor Jacques Chirac adamantly against making big concessions on farm products.

Sarkozy has accused Mandelson in recent weeks of forcing a WTO deal on Europe which would threaten 100 000 jobs in agriculture while also cutting farm output. Mandelson, who has counter-attacked by accusing Paris of undermining him as Europe’s top trade negotiator, stressed on Thursday that he had not overstepped his remit in the negotiations.

Although Mandelson has long insisted that Europe can offer no more on agriculture unless others make painful concessions too, he made a gesture earlier this week to Latin America by offering to accept a compromise on a decadesold banana dispute.