France takes hard stand on subsidies at WTO meeting

DOHA, Qatar -- Negotiators worked past the deadline early today to save the World Trade Organization's attempt to start a new round of talks on freeing up global commerce.

The goal was a compromise over farm export subsidies that would ease objections from the European Union, especially France, and avoid another collapse like the one the WTO suffered in Seattle two years ago.

But the EU's attempt to extract concessions on environmental issues in return were blocked by developing countries led by India, said Nacer Benjelloun, Morocco's ambassador to the WTO.

"At this stage I am not very optimistic," he said, adding that India showed no signs of budging in the closed-door sessions.

Big agricultural exporting countries like Australia, Canada and Argentina, supported by the United States, oppose a subsidy program because they say it lets European farmers export products at below market price, distorting and hurting the world market for farm goods.

Poor countries, many of which depend on agriculture for exports, also were backing the call to eliminate subsidies.

But EU members France and Ireland were opposed. The 15-nation EU votes as a bloc, and any deal must be approved by all WTO members.

A 'deal-breaker point'

The talks were supposed to end at midnight, the official deadline of the five-day meeting of the WTO's 142 members. But as Wednesday rolled around, the negotiations were still going.

French Trade Minister Francois Huwart told reporters the issue was "a sort of deal-breaker point," suggesting strongly that France would force the EU to walk away from the table rather than concede ground.

France, the world's second-biggest agricultural exporter after the United States, has a powerful farm lobby and presidential elections in just six months. The Irish government expects to call an election by next summer.

Dutch Trade Minister Gerrit Ybema said it was still possible that the EU could change its position on export subsidies, but it would need something in return on the issue of environmental protection or labor standards.

"We haven't received anything, so we want something," he said.

Developing countries resist any reference to environmental protection because they fear such standards would be used as a cover to keep their goods out of the EU.