A Welsh farmers' leader today backed the French president's attack on EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's "sell-out" of European farming at world trade talks.
"I strongly support Nicolas Sarkozy's criticism of Mr Mandelson for his apparent anti-European farming stance in the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks," said Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan.
"We are campaigning to retain the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) pretty much as it is but Mr Mandelson seems hell bent on an anti-farming policy that will destroy thousands of jobs throughout Europe."
Mr Sarkozy had accused Mr Mandelson and WTO head Pascal Lamy of preparing to sell out European farmers in the name of free trade in the Doha round of trade talks which began in 2001 but have repeatedly stalled over the amount of state aid given to key industries in Western countries.
Speaking on French TV, Mr Sarkozy said Mr Mandelson and Mr Lamy "want to make us accept a deal under which Europe would commit to cutting farm output by 20% and reduce farm exports by 10%".
"That would be 100,000 jobs lost, I won't let it happen," he said.
Mr Vaughan added: "Mr Mandelson believes food protectionism is not going to feed the world's hungry and the talks are 'too important' to be allowed to fail but I would urge politicians in Europe to get rid of their outdated concepts and make food security a priority.
"The FUW has long warned that food security should be a priority for politicians and, in April this year, we made these concerns clear to European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.
"During her visit to an FUW member's farm in Glamorgan, we emphasised that CAP and WTO discussions continue to be driven by outdated concepts which have a tendency to move European farming away from food security.
"The UK Government remains among those lobbying hardest within Europe for the abandonment of the principles upon which the CAP was built - an approach which threatens our food security and flies in the face of overwhelming evidence from around the globe.
"Meanwhile, many bureaucrats, particularly at EC level, continue to pursue agendas which increase bureaucracy and production costs for farmers at a time when it is in the general public's interest to do just the opposite."
Ends.
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