The European Union cannot accept an agreement to resolve WTO free-trade talks on "any terms," EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said Tuesday after France promised to veto any deal threatening French agriculture. "A deal is strongly in Europe's interest but not a deal on any terms," Mandelson said in a statement made available to AFP.
"If others cannot make a commensurate effort to match Europe's offers, then I will have no alternative but to review what Europe has put on the table," the British trade commissioner said.
Earlier Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned that France vowed to "defend agriculture as an element of our country's strategic economic power" and raised the prospect of vetoing a WTO deal if need be. Sarkozy has made clear since he became president earlier this month that under his leadership there would be no break in France's fierce opposition to making further concessions on agriculture in trade talks.
Under former president Jacques Chirac, France Europe's biggest agriculture power often attacked the European Commission for offering too much on agriculture in the WTO negotiations. However, one EU official saw a change of tone coming from Paris, noting that Sarkozy wanted a balanced agreement while Chirac was against all types of deals at the World Trade Organisation.
Legally, whether France even had a veto would depend on what form an eventual deal takes, the official said. The current round of WTO talks on trade liberalisation, launched in 2001 but suspended in July 2006, has foundered largely over the issue of farming, as members have failed to narrow differences on issues such as generous European Union and US farming subsidies.
The four key WTO players the United States, the European Union, Brazil and India have pledged to redouble their efforts to reach their own agreement by mid-June. They are scheduled to meet in London on June 10, and hold another meeting between June 14 and 19.
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