Trade talks suffer setback as French claim proposed deal is unacceptable

PROSPECTS for a deal at the world trade talks suffered a setback yesterday when France warned that the current proposals were not acceptable.

A war of words also broke out in Geneva between the US, India and China over farm and industrial goods trade. But the World Trade Organisation said there had been enormous convergence in the last few days and what was on the table was very substantial.

It also said that its director general Pascal Lamy was tabling a new compromised text to push for a deal.

However, French government spokesman Luc Chatel said existing proposals contained no advance on absolutely essential elements.

Describing the French decision as “extremely significant,” IFA president Pádraig Walshe said Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was holding back on her defence of agriculture in the faint hope of gains in trade and services.

“The French cabinet decision has extinguished that hope and it is now time for the Irish Government to stand with our best allies and back the French position,” he said.

A diplomatic source, meanwhile, claimed French president Nicolas Sarkozy complained to European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso about the proposed deal on offer.

Mr Sarkozy also demanded that the EU’s chief trade negotiator Peter Mandelson travel to Paris to explain his position — a demand that was refused, the source said.

France, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, has frequently criticised Mr Mandelson’s negotiation stance on agriculture.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi also voiced concerns while confirming a willingness to come to a deal which takes the expectations of developing countries into account. “But Europe must work on a total result which also offers the Italian and European citizens adequate guarantees regarding the sacrifices they will have to make.”

As the talks entered their second week, the IFA staged a protest outside the Dublin offices of the Tánaiste.

IFA livestock committee chairman Michael Doran, who led the protest, said Mary Coughlan must tell Mr Mandelson the proposed deal is unacceptable to Ireland. He again called on her to use the veto.

Mr Mandelson denied he is “selling out” the beef industry and claimed Irish farmers are exaggerating the impact of the draft tariff cuts. EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel also rejected the IFA warnings of disaster.

However, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association president Jackie Cahill said if the proposed deal is as unbalanced as it now looks, then Ireland will have no choice but to vote against it and use the veto. “I am seeking a strong commitment on the safeguard clause specifically aimed at avoiding an import surge into the EU dairy market.”

Mr Cahill said the beef sector would never again be the same after the deal.

Fine Gael spokesperson Michael Creed TD said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith must return to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture to reveal details of the proposals.

John Tyrrell, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society’s director general, said if a deal is finalised on the basis of the past week’s negotiations, then it poses a serious threat to the EU-Irish beef and dairy sectors.