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LONDON : EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson hit out again Sunday in his battle with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over world trade talks by attacking "populist and self-serving" rhetoric on the issue.
Mandelson wrote that the latest Doha round of negotiations "is not about individual personalities" and warned that public disagreements "come with a cost to our ability to defend our interests" in a Sunday Telegraph article.
"There is increasing rhetoric about the need to protect people from change, some of it sincere but much of it populist and self-serving," he wrote.
"I want President Sarkozy and other world leaders to accept that securing trade is an important part of the solution" to current global economic woes.
Mandelson's comments came after his disagreements with Sarkozy surfaced last week when the French president said Monday he would block any WTO deal that sacrificed farm production on the "altar of global liberalism."
France is Europe's biggest agricultural power and the largest recipient of EU farm subsidies.
The next day, Mandelson told the BBC that he was "being undermined and Europe's negotiating position in the world trade talks is being weakened."
Sarkozy later retorted by saying that Mandelson would be loving the publicity created by their disagreement.
Now Mandelson has warned that the latest Doha round of negotiations "is not about individual personalities" and argued that free trade is essential to strengthening the world economy.
"Europe cannot view the future of world trade solely through the lens of agriculture and agricultural subsidies," he wrote.
"The prosperity of Europeans ultimately depends on the competitiveness and strength of our industrial goods and services."
Mandelson, a British former cabinet minister under former premier Tony Blair, added that Europe now faces "an important moment".
"Frank, robust debate is the lifeblood of Europe... but public disagreements at critical moments in a global negotiation come with a cost to our ability to defend our interests," he wrote.
"The task for our leaders is to bring Europe together to help shape globalisation in the interests of all."
- AFP/vm
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