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Barroso believes that Doho Round can be salvaged

"The European Commission -- the European Union because of course we need to have the member states with us as well -- could do also something more if the others want to move. Unfortunately, we have not seen enough of that in this round in Geneva."

Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Commission president

Doha Round negotiations on reducing barriers to commerce can still be revived, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said yesterday after WTO talks failed to break an enduring deadlock.

Three days of meetings into the weekend in Geneva at the 149-nation WTO left it no closer to sealing a landmark treaty by the end of this year.

The EU could make further concessions in stalled world trade negotiations if the US and emerging economies yield ground, he said.

"We believe it is still possible to have a success of Doha cycle if all parties, the United States and the G20 [developing nations] make some efforts," Barroso said.

WTO heavyweights, notably Brazil, the EU, India and the US, failed to settle bitter arguments, especially over agriculture subsidies.

"Of course we were disappointed with the outcome of the meeting in Geneva," said Barroso, who was in Helsinki for the beginning of the Finnish EU presidency.

"Trying to put it on a positive way, I think that some additionnal pressure comes out now from this disappointment because now it is clear that all parties have to do some more efforts," he said.

"The European Commission -- the European Union because of course we need to have the member states with us as well -- could do also something more if the others want to move. Unfortunately, we have not seen enough of that in this round in Geneva," he said.

The EU is under pressure from the US and developing nations such as Brazil and India to open its markets wider to food imports by reducing agricultural tariffs, but farming nations oppose further concessions.

Barroso did not say how much further the EU could go but he said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy had a clear mandate to come up with compromise proposals.

European ministers who attended the Geneva talks said the EU was split three ways, with a handful of countries led by France contending Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had already exhausted his negotiating mandate, a small free-trading group led by Britain arguing for substantial further concessions and a middle ground of countries which saw some limited room to move.

"The French and some other countries emphasized strongly that we have either little room or no room to move. The Germans were pretty constructive," Finnish Trade Minister Paula Lehtomaki said shortly before the talks collapsed.

Finland assumed the EU's rotating presidency for six months on Saturday, giving the traditionally free-trading nation the task of trying to hold the bloc together behind Mandelson's negotiating strategy.

Barroso applauded what he called Finland's support for an open economy as "the right approach to globalization."

Lehtomaki said EU legal experts had determined that the bloc needed unanimity to accept an agreement, giving Paris an effective veto over the outcome.

"I don't think the French are going to tie the commissioner's hands at this stage but he has got to stay within his mandate and we agreed there's not much room for the EU to move," Lehtomaki said.
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