SWITZERLAND: The President of the Irish Farmers Association, Mr John Dillon, launched a strong attack last night on the negotiating tactics of the European Union in advance of "make or break" talks today on the future of the troubled Doha round of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), writes Denis McClean in Geneva
"In my view, there has been bad negotiation on the European side. Europe seems to have given it all away and it's a case of 'thanks very much, how much more will you give us' from the others," Mr. Dillon told The Irish Times in Geneva.
The IFA along with French farmers are deeply concerned about advance leaks concerning the text of a draft framework agreement which will be discussed at a meeting here of European Union ministers this morning. Irish trade minister, Mr Dermot Ahern, who arrived yesterday, will be joined for the discussions this morning by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walshe.
Mr Dillon said the information they were receiving from their sources indicated that there was no "parallelism on the issue of eliminating export supports on agricultural goods."
He added that "while the EU has committed itself in principle to eliminating all export subsidies, there is only very vague wording about US export credit programmes and what they call single desk trading agencies such as the Canadian Wheat Board and the New Zealand Dairy Board."
He said this was completely unacceptable and he had spoken during the day to both the Irish Minister for Agriculture and the French Minister for Agriculture, Mr Herve Gaymard.
He advised them of the need to stand firm against any measures which would allow elimination of export subsidies for European agriculture without any parallel moves by other major agricultural trading nations.
"I believe that the two of them are going to be very strong in defending European agricultural interests," said Mr Dillon. The Irish government delegation attending the talks are also concerned about the possibility of cuts in domestic support and a substantial increase in market access for big exporters such as Brazil and Australia who are pursuing easier access to European markets.
Mr Dillon said EU CAP reforms had already gone far enough in terms of cutting production, and the risk now was that farmers would not be compensated by price rises if non-EU exporters were allowed unfettered access to European markets.
The draft framework agreement was being revised yesterday following overnight input by the so-called Five Interested Parties (FIP) - made up of the US, the EU, Australia, India and Brazil.
The revised agreement will have to break the deadlock on agriculture and open up access to rich countries' markets for developing countries or the Doha trade round - the so-called development round - will be derailed for the foreseeable future.
According to a WTO official, "the developing nations have made it clear that unless their demands are met on agriculture, there is no point discussing anything else in the round such as industrial goods and services."
Following a briefing on the process so far, Minister Ahern cautioned that whatever about the FIP, the WTO had 147 members and not all of them had yet been heard. WTO agreements are all based on consensus.
It is known already that several countries are concerned about any undue influence which the FIP may have on the final text.
The New Zealand Agriculture Minister, Mr Jim Sutton, told reporters that many countries have "felt left out."