France won't sign up for WTO deal without changes, says Sarkozy

BATZ-SUR-MER/GENEVA/ BRASILIA  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Thursday that France would not sign a WTO trade liberalisation deal currently on the table at talks in Geneva unless it were modified.

"At the WTO, this agreement which is on the table, if it is not modified, then we will not sign it," Sarkozy said.

European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson later shrugged off Sarkozy's threat, insisting that as commissioner he held the mandate to negotiate on the behalf of the EU.

"I have no reaction, except to say that the Commission is charged with negotiating here at the WTO on behalf of all the member states and we will continue to do so on the basis of the mandate we have." Mandelson and Sarkozy have been trading blows in the run-up to the Geneva trade talks, with Sarkozy warning he would block any WTO deal that hurt France's farm interests. The EU commissioner had retorted that he was being "undermined and Europe's negotiating position in the world trade talks is being weakened."

World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy later Thursday told a meeting of the WTO's 153 members that "on some of the key issues, positions still remain too far apart."

Lamy convened the meeting of 35 leading trade negotiators with the aim of mapping out a deal to conclude the long-delayed Doha round of trade liberalisation talks. The Doha round began seven years ago with the aim of helping poor countries enjoy the fruits of freer global trade. But the process has been hampered by disputes between the rich developed world and poorer developing nations over cutting subsidies and tariffs.

France has a long record of taking a tough stance to defend EU agriculture and French farmers at EU and WTO level.

In recent weeks it has sniped at Mandelson for making what it sees as too many concessions on agricultural trade in the absence of firm commitments that industrial goods and services would enjoy greater access to markets in emerging and developing countries.

Meanwhile, a threat by France to torpedo a new global free-trade pact deepened the gloom surrounding troubled WTO negotiations Thursday, with scant progress having been made so far toward a deal.

Strains between big and small countries also emerged, adding to tension between rich and poor nations, as four days of gruelling talks produced little sign that an agreement was within reach.

Brazil's agriculture minister, in comments published Thursday, said trade talks underway in the WTO are "pointless" and will not result in any deal that could help farmers around the world.

Reinhold Stephanes, speaking in Brasilia as the troubled trade negotiations dragged on in Geneva, told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper: "I don't believe in the Doha Round. This round is pointless. There is no way to achieve any results."

His pessimism added to a sense of gloom surrounding the negotiations, which are mired in apparent intractability between industrialized states and developing nations.

Brazil, one of the key participants in the talks, is represented by Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

Stephanes, who has only peripheral involvement in the haggling, said he saw "no objective reason" why a free-trade accord from the talks "would have a positive impact on world agriculture." "It is very difficult, even impossible, to see the countries with trade protection and subsidies at the heart of their production structures giving that away in return for nothing."

Instead, the liberalization of agriculture markets will be done by market forces, he predicted.

Stephanes added that he had not made his point of view known to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva because "he never asked" for his opinion.