Europe's farmers stand to lose sales worth at least €30 billion a year under new proposals floated to unblock world trade talks, a leading European farmers representative said today.
"From what we see, Europe is not getting anything like that back on industrial goods and certainly not on services," said Shelby Matthews, chief policy adviser for COPA COGECA, which represents European farmers.
As part of a new push for a breakthrough in the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Doha negotiations for a global trade deal, mediators published new compromise proposals yesterday, spelling out where agreement might be found on farm and industrial goods.
European farmers have rejected previous versions of the proposals, saying they required them to make too many concessions.
"Every time they bring out papers, it seems to get incrementally worse for us," Matthews said.
EU trade chief Peter Mandelson has come under sustained criticism from Ireland, France and other EU countries with big farm interests for his strategy in the negotiations.
European Union officials have previously said the bloc stands to lose €18 billion a year in sales specifically in the areas of cereals, dairy and some meats.
Matthews said the estimate of €30 billion a year in losses was based on the low end of the proposed tariff cuts and other changes in the texts, and the loss would rise if a final WTO agreement included steeper cuts.
The latest text meant "sensitive" farm goods, which the EU can choose to shield from the full impact of tariff cuts, would get almost no special protection from imports, Matthews said.
The EU's sensitive goods list is likely to include beef, dairy, poultry, sugar, cereals and other farm products.
The bloc would also be restricted to about 20 products that it may protect with special safeguards in the case of sudden import surges, Matthews said.
European farmers are concerned that sugar and rice may be included in the category of tropical products which would get better access to rich-country markets under a WTO deal.
EU farmers groups are unhappy at what they say are special rules for US farmers allowing them to have higher subsidies for some crops than if the United States was treated like other WTO countries, Matthews said.
A spokesman for EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said earlier today that Brussels was still examining the texts and stressed the EU would not accept a bad deal for Europe.
European manufacturers are worried they might not benefit much from the Doha round because developing countries want to protect their markets for a range of goods.