The European Commission was accused in the European Parliament today, Tuesday, March 11th of deflecting questions on the W.T.O. from Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, whom it is feared is engaged in a sell-out of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Independent M.E.P. Marian Harkin, whose question to Mr. Mandelson was re-directed to another Commissioner, asked in the Parliament if he was refusing to be accountable to the house for his W.T.O. negotiations which had a major impact on the future for agriculture in Europe.

She asked what was the point of putting down relevant questions to a Commissioner who was present in the Parliament but was not prepared to answer them.

Earlier in a debate on a report on the CAP ‘health check’, Deputy Harkin said that the future of European agriculture was being threatened and seriously undermined by the negotiations being conducted in the name of the EU by Commissioner Mandelson.

Addressing Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel she asked if she was satisfied that the concept of qualified market access  was being pursued and if the line being taken by Mr. Mandelson would undermine the beef, dairy and other sectors.  The report being debated called for European non-trade concerns to be central in W.T.O. negotiations, she said.  Was the Agriculture Commissioner satisfied that the non-trade line was being pursued by Mr. Mandelson or did his strategy mean that an attack on the very foundations of the CAP was continuing while polite debates on the CAP ‘health check’ were being held in Strasbourg and Brussels.