Commission holds of French coup on Doha Round

The Commission had a base hit last week, by beating back a French-led coup to reduce its mandate on international trade negotiations. France, upset over the Commission's agreement to slash the EU's agricultural subsidies and to open up access to EU food markets during the on-going Doha Round of WTO negotiations, wanted to force the Commission to consult with a new technical committee before making any moves at the trade talks. This is a positive sign that France's intransigence over the CAP might be losing its political efficacy at the European level. Unfortunately, it does not much in terms of forcing short-term CAP reform since Paris still seems capable of forming a coalition of countries with sufficient votes to block agreement in the Council. But given the likelihood that the Doha Round will not be concluded for several years, this may signal that time is no longer France's ally. Given enough time, the will to block CAP reform may have waned sufficiently that the CAP will reformed. The Commission's victory last week means that when the time does come for the Council to approve the final trade agreement CAP reform will be on the agenda.