Peter Mandelson today accuses Nicolas Sarkozy of seeking to exploit the image of starving African children in order to resist trade reform and prop up French farmers’ jobs.

Britain’s Trade Commissioner criticised the French President in an interview with The Times after Mr Sarkozy sought to pin the blame for the Irish referendum “no” vote on Mr Mandelson and his trade policies.

Mr Mandelson accused Mr Sarkozy of being “disingenuous” by linking the former Cabinet minister’s trade policies to starvation in the developing world. He also said that Mr Sarkozy’s swipe was “unbecoming” of the man who in ten days will take over the EU’s rotating presidency.

The deepening row between the two came as EU nations split into two bitterly opposed camps at their summit in Brussels. Already divided over the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty, they also fell apart over how to tackle spiralling food and fuel prices.

Gordon Brown backed Mr Mandelson over trade, putting him in the liberal camp with the Swedish and Dutch, against Mr Sarkozy’s drive to tackle food shortages with heightened protectionism and subsidies.

Mr Sarkozy’s jibe at Mr Mandelson came when he was asked whether he blamed José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, for Ireland’s “no” vote. He said: “A child dies of starvation every 30 seconds and the Commission wanted to reduce European agriculture production by 21 per cent during World Trade Organisation talks. This was really counter-productive.”

Explaining the Irish vote, he said that voters had been worried about euthanasia, abortion and trade, bluntly adding “Mandelson”.

Mr Sarkozy then made plain his personal dislike for Mr Mandelson’s approach to the Doha round of world trade talks, the latest in a series of personal public attacks.

“It would be highly unrealistic to keep wanting to negotiate a deal . . . which would cut farm output by 20 per cent while 800 million people are dying of hunger,” he said.

“Frankly, there is only one person who thinks like that and it is Peter Mandelson.”

Friends of Mr Mandelson said last night that he was concerned that France, which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1, might be seeking to use the Irish “no” vote to sink the Doha trade talks. Mr Mandelson featured heavily on posters calling for the Lisbon treaty to be rejected, an attempt by “no” campaigners to play on fears that Irish farmers would lose out from his liberal trade policies.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Mandelson insisted that he admired Mr Sarkozy. “I do not take this personally but it was not a very elegant intervention and not really becoming of the incoming EU presidency,” he said.

“He seems to be trying to pin the blame on the European Commission for the outcome of the Irish referendum. He cannot single out Mr Barroso, the Commission president, and so I seem to be the next best thing.”

Mr Mandelson questioned Mr Sarkozy’s claim that 20 or 21 per cent of agricultural production would be lost in Europe under the proposed world trade deal. “To link this to hungry mouths in developing countries is disingenuous,” Mr Mandelson said.

“Europe cannot possibly feed the rest of the world but Europe can help the rest of the world to feed itself by reforming its trade-distorting agricutural policies, and that is simply what we are offering to do in the context of the Doha round.”

Asked about the row, Mr Brown sprang to Mr Mandelson’s defence: “We need this trade deal and he is pushing for it. We support him in the excellent work that he is doing.”

Mr Barroso backed Mr Mandelson, saying that he had “one of the most difficult jobs in the world” because he negotiated on behalf of 27 member states that did not always have the same priorities.

EU diplomats fear that even if a world trade deal is possible in the next six months, it will be torpedoed by Mr Sarkozy to aid French farmers, who enjoy huge EU subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy.

Process

8 Countries have completed treaty process by depositing “instruments of ratification” in Rome - home to the founding 1957 Treaty of Rome

8 including Irish Republic, yet to ratify Lisbon, by popular or parliamentary vote or head of state’s signature The other countries in the EU have completed ratification processes, but have yet to deposit instruments of ratification in Rome

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