EU will not give ground on agriculture

European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson says it is too late to strike a compromise deal ahead of the Hong Kong summit next month.

Mandelson will tell trade ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday that Europe will stick to its offer on cuts to farm import tariffs and subsidies.

He will blame the US for not giving more ground on agriculture.

“It is now too late," Mandelson told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Monday.

"I hoped the US would make a similar commitment to lowering tariffs on industrial goods and services as they did for agriculture."

“We have too few offers for the dismantling of protective industrial tariffs and for the service markets on the table,” he added. 

"Without serious offers to diminish the tariffs on industrial goods and services there are no serious negotiations."

Troubled talks

The battle over cutting agricultural subsidies continues to threaten to derail the WTO talks which begin in Hong Kong on December 13.

The EU's latest offer to cut farm tariffs has been criticised by trade partners for not going far enough but Mandelson insists he cannot offer anything new.

The EU has put forward a 46 per cent cut in average tariffs but the offer falls short of the 54 per cent called for by the Group of 20 developing countries - and well below the 55-90 per cent cuts demanded by the US.

Apec calls for EU action

Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific countries will repeat calls for developed countries to agree to eliminate all export subsidies by 2010 on Monday.

As Apec leaders meet in South Korea they will accuse the EU of creating an “impasse” in agricultural negotiations and will urge greater movement on market access.

Dinner discussions

After a day of ministerial meeting in Brussels, Europe’s agriculture ministers will reconvene for supper on Monday evening to hear Mandelson’s report on progress – or lack of it - in WTO negotiations.

Demonstrators will be barracking ministers under the banner “trade justice not free trade” and the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on the EU to drop demands that developing countries open up domestic markets.

With just three weeks remaining before the make-or-break Hong Kong summit, many officials fear a high-profile debacle reminiscent of past WTO meetings.

In 2003, a meeting in the Mexican resort of Cancun broke up in acrimony after developing nations rejected an early proposal for a new global trade deal.

Four years earlier, the Seattle summit was marred by riots in the streets and dead lock in the conference hall.

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