Ireland opposes EU agriculture concessions

Ireland is opposed to any more agriculture concessions from the EU at the WTO negotiations, the Minister for Agriculture has …

Ireland is opposed to any more agriculture concessions from the EU at the WTO negotiations, the Minister for Agriculture has said.

I will continue to oppose any unilateral move by the Commission and any concession at any stage which might necessitate further CAP reform
Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan

Speaking last night in Geneva ahead of a WTO ministerial meeting over the next few days, Ms Mary Coughlan said: "I will continue to oppose any unilateral move by the Commission and any concession at any stage which might necessitate further CAP reform.

"I will continue to work with my colleagues to maintain support for this position. In my view no deal is better than a bad deal."

Ms Coughlan said there was no justification for further concessions by the EU. "The EU has undertaken CAP reform in preparation for these negotiations and has already made a generous offer to reduce support and protection for agriculture.

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"The latest EU offer was conditional on movement by others and there has been no such reciprocal move," she said.

This Doha round of talks is part of a five-year process to secure a new world trade deal.

Top negotiators from key WTO members Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States met late last night but made no progress on two of the round's core issues - trade in farm and manufactured goods.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Brussels was not to blame for the stalemate.

"People heard new things from the European Union. Now we will hopefully hear new things from others," he said as he headed into Friday's official negotiations at the WTO.

He was referring to the EU's position that it can get close to some of the demands of developing countries in agriculture, as long as others make concessions too.

But the United States says the developing countries' demands are too low on tariff levels for farm imports, and it is refusing to cede to demands for bigger cuts to its farm subsidies.

EU diplomats said there was little chance of an agreement at the Geneva meeting, which is due to run until Sunday.