GENEVA, March 28 (Reuters) - Militant French farm leaders opposed to open trading in agricultural produce said on Tuesday they planned to set up a watchdog in Geneva to exert "democratic control" over the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Jose Bove and Francois Dufour of the smallholders' Peasant Confederation in France told the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve they hoped the body would have support from anti-globalisation groups around the world.
"The idea is to have a giant microscope above the WTO with an associated network of lawyers, economists and finance specialists," said Bove.
"We know that a lot of things are going to happen at WTO Geneva headquarters in the next few years, and we need to keep a close watch on that on the spot."
Over the past year since he led supporters in wrecking a half-built U.S. chain restaurant in southern France last summer and was briefly jailed, Bove has emerged as a major media star with his hallmark drooping walrus moustache and briar pipe.
Critics, including leaders of mainstream French farmers' bodies, say he seeks out confrontation and is largely driven by concern that freer world agricultural trade would bring an end to large subsidies enjoyed by the industry in Europe.
Farm produce-exporting countries in the 135-nation WTO, including many in the developing world, say these subsidies -- enjoyed also by farmers in Switzerland, Japan, Norway and South Korea -- keep costs high for consumers by pricing cheaper goods from elsewhere out of the market.
Talks on reducing barriers to world farm trade were officially launched at the WTO last week.
In the interview, Bove and Dufour said they were working with Swiss farm leaders and were also aiming to work with smallholder and peasant groups in poorer countries.
Like other groups opposing globalisation, they accuse the WTO, with other international institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of seeking to establish a "market dictatorship" across the globe.
They argue that the WTO, where all key decisions including rule-making are made by consensus among all members of whom the overwhelming majority are developing countries, is undemocratic.
Defenders of the five-year-old trade body, including leaders of poor countries, counter that any measures agreed in the WTO affecting national policies have also to be approved by the parliaments of member states.
Bove and Dufour said their Geneva watchbody would be called the "Global Citizens' Initiative" and would aim to provide a meeting place for labour, consumer and environmentalist groups -- some of which also oppose globalisation.
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