Government joins EU criticism of WTO farming negotiations

The Government has joined 12 other EU member states in publicly criticising the handling of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations by EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, writes Seán Mac Connell Agriculture Correspondent

Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan was one of 13 farm ministers who dispatched a letter of complaint to the commissioner, saying that she and the European Commission were not negotiating strongly enough on behalf of EU agriculture.

The unprecedented move overshadowed a fresh initiative by the US in the Doha round of talks, due to resume again in Hong Kong in nine weeks' time.

The US said that it was willing to concede 60 per cent cuts in domestic supports to its farmers, and 75 per cent cut on tariffs and said that it would end all tariffs and trade, distorting subsidies by the year 2020.

However, it asked the EU, Japan and others to cut their subsidies further to make way for an agreement at the WTO's Doha round of talks in Hong Kong in December.

In the first official reaction to the US offer, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said that the proposals "need further scrutiny".

"Whether these proposals will have the intended effect requires further examination," Mr Mandelson told an EU parliamentary committee.

The commissioner said that he believed that Washington was genuinely committed to reducing agricultural support and subsidies.

However, he added that "we need early concrete steps to start translating that vision into practice".

"We're doing better than the Americans on subsidy reduction but we have to focus on tariff reduction," he said.

Ms Coughlan said that, while she welcomed the new moves by the US, careful analysis of the package was required.

She said that she and those who had sent a memorandum to the commissioner would be discussing the issues at the next farm ministers meeting.

She repeated her criticism of the EU commissioner's stance in the negotiations, describing them as "unnecessarily concessionary".

She said that she had strongly supported a memorandum which was prepared by the French minister for agriculture and submitted to Ms Fischer Boel.

The French initiative, which the minister had encouraged during the summer in bilateral contacts with her French colleague, Mr Bussereau, was endorsed by 13 EU ministers for agriculture, she said.

Against the background of the developments in the negotiations to date, the memorandum identified a number of key issues and urged the commissioner to defend the EU position on agriculture in accordance with the mandate as agreed by the Council of Ministers.

The move by the agriculture ministers is without precedent in the history of the trade talks and has the backing of the European farm organisation, Copa.