PORTO, March 18 (AFP) - The European Union commission will negotiate for member states at the next round of world trade talks, French foreign trade minister Francois Huwart said.
European trade commissioner Pascal Lamy will continue the negotiations he began at December's meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle, Huwart said.
And officials at an informal meeting of EU trade ministers here said the EU wants a new round started as soon as possible.
The Seattle meeting ended in a stand-off between the United States, Europe and developing countries. The EU disagreed with other WTO members over its wish to include environmental and food safety safeguards in a free trade deal.
"Flexibility is not our priority at the moment, there are certain formalities to get through first," Huwart told AFP.
"We have a big job ahead of us to restore confidence and explain our position," he added.
A delegate present at the discussions said some countries had argued that Lamy's mandate should be relaxed to allow member states to discuss objectives with their commercial partners before the next talks.
But Huwart said Lamy's authority to speak on behalf of the EU was "very clearly" renewed at an informal meeting of EU trade ministers in Porgo.
Lamy told a press conference there should only be flexibility "on condition that we see the same flexibility from our partners."
In Seattle the EU found itself in opposition to the United States, which wanted to limit discussion to services and agricultural products, and the developing world, which objected to attempts to link environmental protection and a ban on child labour to a trade deal.
Huwart said there was "agreement in the European Union on measures to restore confidence." This would be done by giving the poorest countries better access to markets in the industrialised world and offering them technical assistance, he said.
The ministers also agreed on the necessity of improving the workings of the WTO, making it more open and transparent, he said.
Portugal's Finance and Economy Minister Joaquim Pina Moura said the EU wants new world trade talks as soon as possible.
"The aim is to relaunch the process as soon as possible, the criteria being the conditions to make the round a success.":
