The humanitarian charity Christian Aid has criticised the latest proposals from the European Union to reduce agricultural tariffs by 46 per cent in an attempt to break the deadlock in world trade talks.

|TOP|The proposed cuts in farming subsidies are, according to EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, on condition of ‘immediate movement in negotiations in industrial goods and services’.

“The EU is holding a gun to the head of poor countries in the WTO,” said Claire Melamed, head of trade policy at Christian Aid. “Unless they agree to liberalise vital services they won’t get the agricultural reform that they have been long promised in the WTO.

“But if they do liberalise services they will be unable to guarantee their citizens access to the essential infrastructure – like transport, energy and banking, that make trade possible.”

The heavy EU farming subsidies have been blamed for causing the current stalemate in the trade talks, with the WTO working hard to reach agreement before the key conference to be held in Hong Kong in December.

“The conditions the EU has attached to its offer on agriculture make a mockery of the promises made at Doha that this would be a development round,” added Melamed.

|QUOTE|Analysts, however, are pessimistic that the meeting in Hong Kong will move on from the debacle of the last WTO meeting in Cancun, with both the United States and Australia expressing their dissatisfaction with the present proposal, which, if approved, would be the highest cuts yet.

Christian Aid echoed the chorus of criticism echoing through political corners: “Peter Mandelson is setting the stage for another failure in Hong Kong,” warned Melamed. “The EU cannot continue to offer only crumbs and demand the entire cake in return.”