President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that France would veto any World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement that did not satisfy its requirements on farming. Sarkozy said he wanted to support farming to ensure there was a second agricultural power outside the United States and to preserve jobs for young French who wanted to become farmers.
"It's an essential question for us and if they do not understand that at the WTO table, France will use its veto, that's all," Sarkozy told farm workers during a visit to northern France. The WTO is battling to forge a global free trade deal before the August holidays, fearing that talks may collapse without a swift breakthrough.
Negotiations have already dragged on for years, with much of the wrangling centred on agriculture, where France has been reluctant to give ground over subsidies. Sarkozy's reference to the veto continues the line used by his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who also threatened to veto any deal that France opposed.
Sarkozy said it was up to every country to make an effort for the talks to work. "For the moment, I cannot see the efforts made by the United States. I cannot see the effort that India is ready to make. I cannot see the effort that Brazil is ready to make," he said.
The aim of the negotiations, launched in Doha in 2001, is to inject new vigour into the global economy by lowering barriers to commerce in goods and services and enabling poorer countries to trade their way out of poverty and underdevelopment.
Farm talks are due to resume on Wednesday. Last week, France's new farm minister Christine Lagarde, who was the trade minister in the previous right-wing government, said she would not compromise the interests of her country's farmers to secure a global trade deal.
European trade chief Peter Mandelson has responded to criticisms from Sarkozy by saying he could scale back Europe's offer in the talks if other players did not make concessions.