Sarkozy attacks EU trade chief's tactics

TRADE TALKS: FRENCH EXASPERATION with the course of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks on agriculture flared at the summit when President Nicolas Sarkozy took a swipe at EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.

Speaking to journalists after the leaders' dinner on Thursday night, Mr Sarkozy was asked if he had criticised the commission for its role in the Irish campaign.

Mr Sarkozy said he was not among those who rushed to blame the commission, or its president José Manuel Barroso, for everything that went wrong. "But as for Mandelson . . . ," he added.

He then launched a strong attack on the talks and said it was "inconceivable" to "proceed with a fundamentally unbalanced agreement".

It was "absurd" to talk of reducing agricultural production by 20 per cent at a time of widespread food shortages, Mr Sarkozy insisted.

Mr Mandelson yesterday sought to downplay Mr Sarkozy's criticism.

Speaking to Sky TV, he said: "We should be clear that President Sarkozy was asked to blame the president of the commission and tactfully and diplomatically chose to blame me instead.

"My shoulders are broad enough and my skin thick enough to take this."

But the Irish Farmers' Association president Pádraig Walshe said Mr Sarkozy was correct in pinpointing the damage Mr Mandelson had done to the Yes campaign by alienating farmers.

"I welcome President Sarkozy's blunt rebuttal of Peter Mandelson's negotiating tactics on behalf of the European Union," he said, adding that the statement from Mr Sarkozy proved the IFA's demand for the veto was the correct strategy.

"If Peter Mandelson had not been reined in, then he would have sold out European agriculture and food production for no gain other than to enhance his political reputation," said Mr Walshe.

Mr Mandelson was also criticised yesterday by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith over the trade commissioner's suggestion this week that the Yes campaign had been poorly fought.

Speaking in Athenry, Co Galway Mr Smith said he did not accept Mr Mandelson's contention that the Yes campaign failed to deal with misinformation.

"I know that our party, and I am sure all the other parties campaigning for a Yes vote, counteracted those false arguments as much as possible and I would not accept Mr Mandelson's assertion that the Yes campaign did not counteract those arguments," Mr Smith said.

The Minister said what Mr Mandelson had claimed was "not right. We did try, we did our very best."

He added that Mr Mandelson was in a very important position in the EU and he wanted him to negotiate a trade agreement, not just in the interest of any one sector but a deal which did not damage all the farmers of Europe.

Asked if he had noticed any change in attitude towards him as a representative of Ireland at EU level since the No vote, Mr Smith replied that he had yet to meet his fellow agriculture ministers. He is due to do so early next week.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times