Peter Mandelson dismissed criticism of his efforts to strike a world trade deal today by accusing pressure groups of failing to understand the issue.
An open letter signed by more than 70 organisations from across Europe published in a newspaper this morning accused the EU Trade Commissioner of failing to represent public opinion.
The advert, in the Financial Times'European edition, said he was pursuing an "anti-development" agenda that would cause "immense harm" to poor countries across the globe.
But Mr Mandelson said the allegations were "deeply misjudged" and pointed out that Oxfam was among organisations that had refused to sign the letter, which was addressed to Mr Mandelson and the governments of the 25 EU member states.
"The criticisms expressed are very unbalanced; I think in some cases they are deeply misjudged.
"The problem here is that a number of the signatories, unlike Oxfam and one or two other NGOs, simply haven't followed the detail of the negotiations that are going on in Geneva," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.
Oxfam had expressed "considerable support and in some cases praise" for his approach to the bid to end the deadlock in the Doha round of trade talks, he insisted.
"Over the past five years, millions of EU citizens have called for an outcome to the trade talks which puts the needs of developing countries and the environment first", he said.