EU employers blame Brussels for WTO deadlock

BRUSSELS, Mar 13 (Reuters) The head of Europe's biggest business group criticised the European Union's strategy in global trade talks, accusing Brussels of prioritising EU farmers and poor countries at the expense of the bloc's companies.

The World Trade Organisation's Doha round to free up global commerce is behind schedule and the European Union has been blamed for the delay by other trading powers who say it must go further with planned cuts to agricultural import tariffs.

Philippe De Buck, secretary general of European employers' group UNICE, said the EU's executive Commission needed to be more ambitious with its offer on agriculture in order to unlock other areas of the round.

''UNICE questions the strategy of the EU Commission which has paralysed the talks,'' he told reporters. ''There is too much emphasis by the Commission on agricultural issues and needs of developing countries at WTO level.'' EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is under pressure not to offer more concessions on agriculture from EU member states with strong farming interests such as France.

He says the EU's agricultural offer could be improved but only if big developing nations such as Brazil and India give EU the access it wants for companies that export industrial goods, like cars and chemicals, or provide services such as insurance.

Brussels also says the kind of farm import tariffs it is proposing are good for many of the world's poorest countries who would lose some of their special, preferential access to the EU's markets if tariffs were cut too quickly, allowing powerful exporters like Brazil to dominate.

Top negotiators from the EU, the United States, Brazil, India, Japan and Australia held talks in London on March 10-11 but said afterwards that they had not made much progress in narrowing their differences over the WTO round.

Developing countries say the United States and other rich countries, as well as the EU, must do more to cut import tariffs and slash farm subsidies.

UNICE will make their views known when they visit the WTO headquarters in Geneva on Thursday as part of a business coalition including the U.S., Japan and Korea.

''We do not see that the deadline of the end of April will be met and it now seems more and more difficult that the Doha Round will come to an end,'' De Buck said.

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