DOHA, Nov 12: The European Union is holding fast to its rejection of any WTO agreement that calls for an end to agricultural export subsidies, French Trade Minister Francois Huwart said here on Monday.

The European Union is firm on this question, he told a press briefing.

Others must understand that in negotiations, concessions have to be two ways, not just one way.

Brazilian Agriculture Minister Marcus Pratini de Moraes late Sunday said the EU’s refusal to give up export subsidies had left it isolated at a World Trade Organization ministerial conference here.

Brazil and Canada — members of a farm trading interest group known as the Cairns Group — and the United States insist that language in a draft text before the ministers make clear that a new round of trade liberalization talks will include provisions for the elimination of the subsidies.

The European Union resists any such wording, insisting that some level of support is necessary to preserve rural culture. The EU in addition argues that it has a timetable of its own to reform the agricultural sector.

The unanimous decision of the Cairns Group is not to change the language in the draft text, which calls for the “phasing out” of all forms of export subsidies, de Moraes said.

That was confirmed today (Sunday) by the Cairns Group, by the United States and by Japan at meeting with (European Union Agriculture Commissioner) Franz Fischler, he added.

We told the European Union that we don’t plan to change the text ... concerning agriculture such as it is at the moment, de Moraes said.

Huwart criticized what he said had been an attempt by Washington to cast the European Union as the villain in the debate over subsidies.

European Union officials resent US pressure to eliminate the subsidies, arguing that the United States itself provides substantial financial assistance to its farmers.—AFP