Does France mean to kill the Doha round?

President Sarkozy gunning for Mandelson

THOUGH most minds in Brussels are fixed on the G8 summit in Germany, and the upcoming summit on replacing the ill-fated EU constitution, I assume some pretty senior people are trying to puzzle out what signals Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French president, is sending when it comes to the Doha round of world trade talks.

This morning, the Financial Times reported that Mr Sarkozy, in an interview with foreign reporters in Paris, repeated his opinion (previously expressed during the election campaign) that the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, should be stripped of his mandate (though the report did not explicitly say his mandate to negotiate the world trade talks).

According to the FT report, the new president had this to say on trade policy:

"Mr Sarkozy defended France’s commitment to agriculture, saying that the security of Europe’s food supplies was vital.

The president also criticised the EU’s trade policy for being excessively liberal and suggested that Peter Mandelson, the British trade commissioner, should be stripped of this responsibility.

Although he described Mr Mandelson as a man of “remarkable intelligence,” he said that such an important dossier should be entrusted to the president of the European commission, José Manuel Barroso."

It seems safe to assume that Mr Mandelson will not be stripped of his post (even if Mr Sarkozy is undoubtedly aware that the next British prime minister, Gordon Brown, is no friend of Mr Mandelson). It is also clear that Mr Mandelson, a combative figure, has been trimming his sails since Mr Sarkozy swept into office, along with the rest of the Commission. With France threatening a veto of any EU offer that does not meet with a "reciprocal" deal from the United States and other trade partners, what else can the commission do?

There are officials in Brussels who still think France is just negotiating in a forceful way, and all is not lost. Fine, the concept of bluff and bluster is not new. But this puzzles this reporter: how can Mr Sarkozy's comments do anything but undermine the EU commissioner as he goes into talks with other trade partners? And how does a weak European negotiator suit France, if France has any thoughts of approving some sort of deal down the road? There must be an explanation, it all requires further pondering.

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