EU: The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, has said that European farmers should not have to make further concessions in order to revive the round of global trade talks that collapsed last September in Cancún.
Speaking in Brussels, where he was addressing the European Parliament's agriculture and environment committees, Mr Walsh said last year's reform of the Common Agricultural Policy already represented a major gesture from the European side.
"I believe that we have made a very significant effort in preparation for these talks and I believe we should now resume the negotiations where they left off.
"I don't believe that European farmers should begin by making further concessions and paying twice to get them going," he said.
The United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, said last week that an end to agricultural subsidies in rich countries was a prerequisite for a trade deal that would benefit the world's poor.
Mr Walsh insisted, however, that it was now time for others to make a move in response to the EU's reform. "We believe that we have made a very generous gesture to getting the round going and keeping it going.
"We feel that in all justice there should be some more reciprocation from the other negotiating parties . . . And we don't think it's in the spirit of getting the negotiations back on track again to be lectured on providing further concessions before we can get a resumption," he said.
Mr Walsh said Europe was well prepared to protect consumers and producers from avian flu and the EU had learned from other food scares in recent years.
"I believe that the European machinery was put into effect very promptly. We have introduced a ban but we have to continue to keep a close eye on this matter," he said.