Print

Mail

wiki links

Farm export subsidies a sacred cow for the French

France threatened yesterday to walk away from negotiations to launch global trade talks over the explosive issue of farm export subsidies, despite two years of work by the WTO to recover from Seattle's embarrassing failure.

"Really it is a sort of deal-breaker point," said French Trade Minister Francois Huwart over demands by other nations for an agenda that would see a ``phasing out'' of the subsidies.

Huwart's comments to journalists came hours before the midnight deadline, after five days of talks among the WTO's 142 members on a declaration that would set out the road map for a new trade round.

The declaration must be agreed to by all members. That didn't happen in 1999 in Seattle -- partially over the same issue -- dooming those talks.

Tuesday morning, negotiators were claiming "positive momentum" from a draft agreement to ensure poor countries have access to lifesaving drugs.

Senior US trade negotiators said "very substantial progress" had been made over four days of talks and a deal was "definitely very doable."

Trade ministers had the draft of an agreement on access to patented drugs for poor countries, as well as one to include a mandate to look at tightening anti-dumping rules, which developing countries wanted but Washington, worried about its steel and textile industries, had resisted.

Negotiators said agriculture was one of the last main stumbling blocks.

South Korea, Japan and Norway have agreed to a proposed text calling for the eventual "phasing out" of farm export subsidies, leaving the 15-nation European Union, and especially France, essentially alone. France, which benefits the most from the EU's farm budget, has a strong farmers lobby and presidential elections just six months away.

"We would accept failure of the round rather than a bad agreement," said Jean-Michel Lemetayer, president of France's main farmers lobbying group, who is in Doha.

US negotiators suggested the EU might be able to agree to talks on a phaseout of subsidies.
This story has been viewed 1791 times.