By KUNA,
London : EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson risked reigniting his public row with Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday by branding the French President a “bully”.
Mandelson delivered his blow despite insisting that the spat between them was “over”.
Speaking to BBC domestic radio, the EU Trade Commissioner stressed he had not been responsible for starting the argument over his handling of crucial world trade talks, but he added “I stood up for myself. I’m not going to be bullied”.
Mandelson was previously Britain’s Trade and Industry Secretary and he is a close friend of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
He also renewed his warning against rising protectionism, insisting Sarkozy and others were wrong to be concerned that developing economies were thriving.
Mandelson said “There are some, not just in France but in many countries and not just Europe either, who see economic change and what’s going on in the world in zero sum gain terms: that if others gain we automatically lose, Asia rises, Europe goes downwards”.
“Well, the global economy is not like that. We need the emerging economies to continue to grow, because they are the ones who are going to be producing the much-needed global demand”.
Referring to his public row with the French leader, Mandelson said “I think it is over. I think everyone recognises that it is not about individual personalities”.
“President Sarkozy, like all European heads of government, will recognise that we want the world to enter a new era of freer trade, of fewer barriers between countries”.
He said Sarkozy was subject to “domestic political pressures” to protect French agriculture and business, “But he is also saying, absolutely rightly and I agree with him, that others have got to step up to the table and bring these talks to a successful conclusion”.
The two men began trading verbal blows last month, after Sarkozy directly blamed Mandelson’s handling of the Doha Round of trade talks for Ireland’s surprise “No” vote on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mandelson will lead the EU delegation at crucial World Trade Organisation meetings later this month, amid warnings that failure to strike a deal will seriously damage the global economy and leave millions at risk of starvation.
Previous negotiations have fallen foul of disagreements over subsidies for farmers in the West, and how open developing economies should be to exports and investment.