A written answer given today Wednesday, January 31st by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to Independent MEP Marian Harkin raises real fears that European and Irish agriculture will be sacrificed in a panic attempt to reach a W.T.O. agreement.

Expressing concern about Commissioner Mandelson’s reply, Marian Harkin said that his indication that the EU was prepared to show flexibility in negotiations was code for seeking advantage for exporters of industrial goods at the cost of opening up the floodgates of food imports into the EU.

“Commissioner Mandelson has held a longterm view that the EU should adopt a cheap food policy similar to the traditional British model and his assurance that a further reduction in agricultural product tariffs and export refunds will only occur if similar concessions are made by the USA provides no comfort for the farmers and agriculture sectors of Ireland and the EU”, she said.

It seemed obvious from recent behind the scenes negotiations that Commissioner Mandelson was gearing up for concessions and that vital consumer protections which required compliance from the EU’s food producers would not be applied to imported foods, Marian Harkin said.

“This would be a totally unacceptable position and Ireland, in all relevant EU contacts, must maintain vigorous opposition to further concessions which would threaten the livelihoods of EU producers and the interests of EU consumers”, she said.