Sarkozy blames Mandelson for Irish 'No' vote in EU summit outburst

PS - I have never in all of my years on this side of the channel heard of Peter Mandelson described as a figure of hate. Indeed I would be willing to be "ma chemise" on it that most French have never even heard of him.

The report is fairly accurate and I can assure that the gentleman in question is certainly very much disliked by Irish farmers. The belief here is that the British Government is willing to ignore the interest of EU farmers (including their own) in their attempt to further a narrow British agenda. They claim that Mandelson has gone his brief during the WTO talks.

Around 10,000 Irish farmers marched in Dublin in April against Mandelson's plans to cut import tariffs on beef, dairy and other farm products as part of the EU's offer at the WTO.

The leaders of Irish farming groups dropped their threat to call for a 'no' against the Lisbon Treaty before last week's referendum after the Irish government promised it would not accept a WTO deal that was against Ireland's interests.

Here is a quote from the IFA site

"Speaking at the opening of Farmfest ’08 in Athenry today, IFA President Padraig Walshe welcomed President Sarkozy’s blunt rebuttal of Peter Mandelson’s negotiating tactics on behalf of the European Union.

He said the French President was also correct in pinpointing the damage that Commissioner Mandelson had done to farmer opinion in the run-up to the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Today’s statement from President Sarkozy proved the IFA’s demand for the veto was the correct strategy. If Mandelson had not been reined in, then he would have sold out European agriculture and food production for no gain other than to enhance his political reputation."

As I said - I stand corrected.

But as I also said - the Daily Mail is not a standard bearer of objective EU reporting - even among the English language press.

And I can confirm that there has been no reporting of Mandelson being a figure of "hate" here  in France - even with its much larger agricultural-based economy. I cannot  and would not speak for Ireland. But once again I am willing to stand corrected.

Remember that there is not just English-language reporting of events within the EU, after all it is not the first language of a majority of the 450 million plus EU citizens, and every country likes to put the best "national" spin on what the real news is.

I could provide links to Die Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau, La Repubblica, Le Monde, Liberation, Rzeczpospolita - all of which would give different and perhaps more enlightening reflections than the Daily Mail. Sadly I cannot provide links to all the other countries as I don't speak the languages. But maybe someone else could help me out on that score.

And I would also point out that in the BBC report there is no mention of Peter Mandelson being a figure of "hate". Or have I misread it?

Here's the deal - come over to France and vox pop the "ordinary citizen" or even Mr ou Madame L'Agriculteur/Agricultrice on their opinion of Peter Mandelson.

As I said, I would bet "ma chemise" a whopping majority would say "qui?"

And as a postscript - be ready for more of the same from Sarkozy over the next six months - joke or no joke.

good stuff:

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

And - oh dear I don't really want to appear to want to have the last word - in the two uploaded videos - well the first is just a heap of anti-Lisbon propoganda, and in the second, Robin Oakley's report for CNN - makes no mention of the figure of "hate" Peter Mandelson has apparently become in either Ireland or France.