BRUSSELS (AFP) — France and Ireland poured cold water Monday on proposals to kick-start World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, with Paris and Dublin indicating a sizeable gulf with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
French trade secretary Anne-Marie Idrac said the two countries were far from alone in having misgivings, after she and her European Union counterparts were briefed by Mandelson on the state of negotiations.
"A majority" of the 27 EU member states "expressed concern," she said.
Last week the WTO submitted new proposals on agriculture and industry to its 152 members in an effort to revive the stalled Doha round of trade liberalisation talks, launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001.
Ironing out differences in farm and industrial goods areas has long dogged negotiators, while the pace of talks on services is also considered to have lagged.
"We have a lot of questions" about the agriculture proposals and "for us French there's no improvement on market access for our industrial goods to emerging markets," said Idrac.
"We are less than ever in an ambitious and balanced negotiation," she told journalists after a meeting of EU trade ministers.
New Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin, speaking to reporters in Brussels, said there was no need and little chance of a WTO deal before the US presidential election in November.
"Our view is you need substance. It's not about completing this just because there's six months left for the US presidency," he said, rejecting Mandelson's stance.
Asked if he thought that it would be wise to wait until after the US election he replied "that would be my view, yes."
Ireland is particularly worried that the current proposals will hit its vital meat industry hard.
"The very clear imbalance in the present set of proposals makes them unacceptable to Ireland and to others," Martin said.
An EU official speaking on condition of anonymity said: "France, Poland, Ireland and to a lesser extent Lithuania really have problems with what's on the table.
"Sweden and Britain are more positive," the official said, while "in the middle there is a series of countries with concerns," although "nobody called for the texts to be rejected."
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that Mandelson, whom France has attacked in the past for making too many concessions, enjoyed "fairly broad support" among ministers.
"Some were less satisfied, and there are a number of open points to be addressed in the next ministerial in Geneva," Bildt stated.
Idrac said that Paris was against the idea of a ministerial meeting at the global free-trade body in June.
"We've got the impression that the conditions are less than ever in place for a ministerial meeting in the short term that would meet European interests," she said.
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