THE GOVERNMENT, in a move which could torpedo the long-running world trade talks, has urged EU states not to proceed with a ministerial meeting to agree a new trade deal before a new US president is elected.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said yesterday that there was no point rushing ahead trying to agree a deal until the US political situation had settled down early next year.
"Our view is that we need substance. It is not about completing it [the talks] just because we have six months left of an American presidency and we may be afraid of what happens after the election," Mr Martin said. "That is no basis to conclude a WTO agreement, either on agriculture issues or NAMA issues."
He made his comments after attending his first EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels yesterday, where ministers discussed the latest negotiating texts circulated last week to try to achieve a draft agreement on the Doha round of WTO talks.
The European Commission has warned that the prospect of agreeing a deal to liberalise world trade in agriculture, goods and services will recede if no ministerial meeting can be organised for next June or July,
The EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, is concerned that if no ministerial meeting is held soon the WTO talks would have to be delayed until 2010 because a new US president and administration would need time to address the issues.
The Democratic contenders for the US presidency have also presented a protectionist outlook for world trade, according to EU officials.
But Mr Martin said that a "rushed endgame that led to an unsatisfactory result would not be in our interests". "I think you need to be pragmatic about this and the Americans have moved ahead in terms of the farm bill that went through congress. "I think it makes sense that the political situation has to settle down," Mr Martin said.
Several other states also expressed serious concern about the latest negotiating texts.
Anne-Marie Idrac, France's junior trade minister, said that the new WTO proposals, presented last week, were "less ambitious and balanced than ever".
"We think the conditions are less in place than ever for a ministerial meeting to take place in June that would be in Europe's interests," she added.
Other big farm states such as Poland and Lithuania also expressed concerns.
Mr Mandelson downplayed the opposition expressed at yesterday's meeting.
"The view expressed that the conditions do not exist for the round to be concluded successfully was a very small minority view," he told reporters. "Overwhelmingly, the view of the member-states was that we must continue to negotiate hard in order to get a balanced outcome in the round."
Mr Martin said that he was not convinced by Mr Mandelson's presentation to ministers. "I thought the language was very skilful. I saw through the spin," he added.
Talks between international trade officials will now continue in Geneva until parties either agree to hold a ministerial meeting in June or are forced to consider a further delay.
