EU trade policy under fire ahead of Irish referendum[fr][de] 

In a statement published on the EPP website, Daul, who himself was a farmer, said he fully understood Irish concerns about an unfavourable WTO agreement. 

"As a committed European and a Frenchman, I share the concerns raised in Ireland about the direction of the WTO talks in relation to agriculture and I am determined to ensure that any attempt by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to sell out European agriculture will be firmly resisted," Daul states. 

The attack on Mandelson, a Labour politician, failed to secure a common position of the major political groups ahead of the Irish referendum. Consequently, the Socialists, Liberals and Greens issued an "Appeal to the Irish citizens" without EPP-ED participation. The text stops short of urging the Irish to vote 'yes', instead explaining the reasons why these three parties support the Lisbon Treaty. 

"We await your decision with a certain degree of anxiety because much depends on it," the statement says. 

A spokesperson for the EPP-ED told EurActiv that his group did not sign the joint statement "because it had expressed its position already". He declined to comment further.