President Jacques Chirac said the draft, presented by WTO
mediators last week, was "profoundly unbalanced and contrary to the
interests of the European Union".
"France wants to see the conclusion of the Doha Round, but it
cannot give its agreement to negotiations on such a basis," he said,
calling on the European Commission to "do everything possible to
rebalance the text".
Mr Chirac's comments represented a thinly veiled attack on the
Commission, which this week gave guarded approval to the document. A
spokeswoman for Pascal Lamy, the trade commissioner, said Brussels
was looking for more precision in the text but it remained a "basis
for further discussion".
Commission officials on Wednesday voiced confidence that Mr
Lamy's negotiating stance enjoyed the backing of the majority of EU
member states. A meeting of EU trade diplomats on Tuesday had been
broadly supportive of the draft text, they said, and France had not
managed to garner strong support for its more aggressive stance.
Although the Commission needs the backing of member states for an
agreement, individual governments have no veto powers. In the
absence of firm support from other capitals, France alone poses
little threat to the Union's negotiating position.
The remarks by Mr Chirac come after a string of similar attacks
in recent months. The president has criticised a widely-praised
Commission offer to eliminate export subsidies on farm products and
its position in talks on a trade deal with the Latin American
Mercosur countries.
The president's interventions reflect, at least in part, the
economic interests and political clout of France's farming lobby.
Despite a declining rural population, more than 2m French people
still work in farming, and many fear that trade liberalisation will
undermine the EU's generous subsidies and protection against foreign
imports.
But relations between Brussels and Paris are further soured by
animosity between Mr Chirac and Mr Lamy.
The president has refused to nominate Mr Lamy for a second term
in Brussels and has also declined to support the commissioner in his
quest to win a high-profile role at various international
institutions.
