Sarko versus Mandy: trading tantrums

In the blue corner, messieurs-dames, we have the feisty French bantam cock, Nicolas "six brains" Sarkozy. In the red corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have the tricky British peacock, Peter "prince of darkness" Mandelson.

This is a heavyweight contest, not in physique, but in subject matter. Two of Europe's vainest and cleverest politicians are trading punches over trade. When were world trade negotiations last so entertaining? You do not have to know all about tariff coefficients, ceilings and waivers to enjoy what is going on (but it helps). M. Sarkozy has mostly punched with his left fist. he accuses Mr Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, of (wham, bang) betraying French farmers and African babies by imposing his "ultra-free-market" doctrine and trying to dismantle European farm protection and subsidies.

After bobbing and weaving for two weeks, Mr Mandelson finally replied with a right hook. He accuses M. Sarkozy, who has just taken over the EU presidency, of (smash, bang, wallop) betraying European unity at the world trade talks which resume in Geneva on 21 July. By calling into question the EU pro-free-trade negotiating position, Mr Mandelson says M. Sarkozy is threatening to destroy seven years of negotiations and plunge the world into tit-for-tat protectionism and recession.

It was M. Sarkozy who first picked the fight at the Brussels summit two weeks ago. "A child dies of starvation every 30 seconds and the Commission wants to reduce European agriculture production by 21 per cent during the World Trade Organisation [WTO] talks," he said. "This was really counter-productive. Frankly, there's only one person who thinks like that and it's Peter Mandelson."

For several days, the elegant British bruiser – a product of the vicious New Labour stable of below-the-belt in-fighting – refused to come out and defend himself. M. Sarkozy attacked again. In a French television interview on Monday night, he said Mr Mandelson planned to sacrifice European agriculture on the "altar of free-market doctrine". The European Commission's position in the trade talks would "destroy 100,000 jobs". He, M. Sarkozy, would not let that happen. (None of M. Sarkozy's figures square with any recognised by Brussels; Paris officials have been unable to say where they come from.)

On the BBC Newsnight programme on Tuesday, Mr Mandelson finally stepped into the ring. He was supposed to be having dinner with M. Sarkozy and other EU commissioners at the Elysée Palace but had pleaded a prior engagement. "I am being undermined and Europe's negotiating position in the world trade talks is being weakened," he said. "And I regret that. It's very disappointing because the mandate which I am negotiating ... has been agreed on by all the member states. I regret that M. Sarkozy's intervention ... will make it harder for me."

Bickering and back-biting is normal enough in European politics. The Sarko vs Mandy contest is unprecedented. Never before has an incoming EU president singled out a European commissioner for such a personal and persistent attack. M. Sarkozy is supposed to hold the ring not jump into it and start punching the match officials.

The battle is partly about personality. Mr Mandelson and M. Sarkozy used to be friends. Long before he was elected, M. Sarkozy asked Mr Mandelson to put him in touch with his "ami" Tony Blair.

Sources in Paris suggest that Mr Mandelson irritated M. Sarkozy soon after his election last year. The former British cabinet minister gave the French President a schoolmasterly lecture on the primordial importance of free trade. If M. Sarkozy wanted to bring a new start to French politics, as he promised, he must banish the old French protectionist demons, Mr Mandelson is reported to have said.

Although hailed (simplistically) as a kind of Gallic Thatcher by some right-wingers in Britain and the US, M. Sarkozy is no free-trader. He believes in "European preference" and "protecting our citizens first". He believes that the "abstract" ideology of global free trade is one reason why European voters, from France to Ireland, have revolted against the so-called European elites.

M. Sarkozy, although a professed European, is also suspicious of what he sees as the arrogance of the European Commission. He has little time for the Commission president, José Manuel Barroso. He has come to dislike Mr Mandelson intensely – but also tactically. Mandelson-bashing is popular in France. M. Sarkozy's behaviour in recent days also suggests that the calming "Carla effect" is beginning to wear off. His first eight months in office were a blaze of trampled conventions and slanging matches.. After his marriage to Carla Bruni in February, he adopted a calmer, more statesmanlike posture – something for which Mme Bruni-Sarkozy has claimed credit.

In the past few days, the aggressive, populist Sarko has returned. He has managed to infuriate not just the European Commission, but institutions as disparate as the French military top brass and the French public broadcasting service.

Mr Mandelson's personality may also be part of the problem. His career in British politics was marked by extreme cleverness and efficiency as a background operator but a chilling absence of personal touch. (This is the man who represented Hartlepool in the Commons but was widely believed to have confused guacamole and mushy peas.)

Officials in Brussels say Mr Mandelson is generally regarded as having done an excellent job with a notoriously difficult portfolio. He has, however, irritated a number of governments, and not just the French, with his somewhat secretive, I-know-best approach to trade negotiations.

Personalities matter but the EU trade row is not just a battle of personalities. The success or failure of the Doha Round of trade talks could be one of the factors which rescues the world from recession – or plunges us into a deeper one. But what would be success and what would be failure?

Forty governments, representing the leading groups of global players, will meet in Geneva from 21 July. The head of the WTO, Pascal Lamy – another of M. Sarkozy's bêtes noires – says there is a 50-50 chance of agreement.

The professed aim is to create a fairer set of rules under which the globalised economy will operate in the first half of the 21st century. Poorer developing countries, and richer food-producing countries such as Brazil and Australia, are demanding less protection for European, US and Japanese farmers in return for lower obstacles to the sale of goods and services into the markets of the poor and no-longer-so-poor.

The talks were launched in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in November 2001 and have been in crisis ever since. The EU – represented by Mr Mandelson – has offered to disarm its defences against food imports from the rest of the world and remove some of its remaining, de facto subsidies for agricultural exports. In return, tariffs on manufactured goods and financial services will be reduced according to a system of flexible "co-efficients", "ceilings" and "waivers" (for the poorest nations).

Mr Mandelson has a negotiating mandate from the 27 EU governments, which lays down the broad lines of what he can offer and what he must refuse. Within this mandate, he has authority to negotiate the small print but, as in all talks of this kind, the small print is devilishly important.

France and a group of other EU governments say Mr Mandelson has exceeded his mandate by offering too many farm concessions and winning too little in return. A group of free-trade advocates, led by Britain and Germany, is broadly satisfied with Mr Mandelson's poker hand as he enters the talks in Geneva.

Disagreements on such issues are as old as the EU (nee EEC). What is utterly different is M. Sarkozy's use of emotional language, such as his comment about "dying children". This is classic Sarkozy: a mixture of intelligence and populism, a blend of pragmatism and the opinions of the last man in the golf-club bar.

Do EU farm subsidies help to generate food to feed the starving, as M. Sarkozy implies? Hardly. Many aid organisations argue that EU food subsidies disrupt Third World agriculture and contribute to long-term poverty and hunger in the developing world.

The assault on Mr Mandelson may also be part of a wider Sarkozy agenda. Officials in Paris say the President believes the Irish vote against the EU reform treaty has erected a barrier but also opened up a "boulevard".

The EU lacks leadership? M. Sarkozy is willing to occupy the vacancy. The EU is too abstract and bureaucratic and too liberal? M. Sarkozy will try to reinvent it in his own authoritarian, protectionist, populist image. And if he fails? He can tell voters he did his best but six months was not long enough to cleanse the Brussels stables

The Elysée Palace issued a statement yesterday to try to calm the Mandy-Sarko dispute. Differences should not be "over-interpreted", said the President's spokesman. "Frank" expressions of opinion were "healthy".

Maybe, but the French President's flurry of blows were below the belt. Introducing simplistic emotion and personal feuds into such a complex, but vital, issue as trade is the mark of the demagogue, not the statesman.

How they measure up

Nicolas Sarkozy

President of France; President of EU; Prince of Andorra

Age 53

Height: 5ft 5in

Taste: Stacked heels; sharp suits; fast women.Voted one of the world's 10 best-dressed men by Vanity Fair.

Background: Lawyer

Wealth: Has declared assets worth €€2m (£1.6m); his wife is reported to be far richer. Salary to rise soon to €€240,000 a year.

Notorious for: Enraging banlieu rioters by calling them racaille (scum); unstable lovelife and "bling" lifestyle.

Friends: Vincent Bolloré (yacht-owning billionaire); Martin Bouygues (media mogul); Arnaud Lagardère (media mogul); Johnny Hallyday (French rock god).

Enemies: Dominique de Villepin; Jacques Chirac; the former Mme Cecilia Sarkozy.

Personal life: Ferociously public. Formerly married to Marie-Dominique Culioli (1982-1996) and Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz (1996-2007). Now married to the celebrity supermodel and singer, Carla Bruni.

Author of: La République, les religions, l'espérance.

Media management: Friendships with proprietors limit hostile coverage. Famously had his "love-handles" retouched by Paris-Match.

On himself: "Nothing will lead me astray from the path that I have chosen."

On his opponent: "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. Frankly, there is only one person who thinks like that and it is Peter Mandelson."

Embarrassing film clips: On YouTube: see him "drunk" at last year's G8; also the "Casse toi, pauvre con" incident; and his recent ticking off of a TV technician.

Don't mention Cécilia; Clearstream; love-handles.

Peter Mandelson

EU commissioner for trade; Prince of Darkness

Age: 54

Height: About 6ft

Taste: Sober suits; big houses; Eames chairs. (Ex-GQ columnist.)

Background: Former television producer.

Wealth: Earns around £150,000 a year, plus lavish allowances, etc.

Notorious for: Two cabinet resignations; countless run-ins with the press; last year's "bra wars" with China.

Friends: John Birt; Paul Allen; Eli Calil; Tony Blair.

Enemies: Gordon Brown, John Prescott; innumerable journalists.

Personal life: Fiercely private.

Author of: The Blair Revolution.

Media management: Limits unfavourable coverage by exerting pressure on editors, proprietors, etc. (Ask Harry Blackwood, former editor of the Hartlepool Mail.)

On himself: "Let's not use the word 'plot', but say I like to be ahead of the game."

On his opponent: "I regret the undermining of my own position at what is a very, very crucial time in the world trade talks."

Embarrassing film clips: His "I am a fighter, not a quitter!" speech after holding his Hartlepool seat in 2001.

Don't mention: Mortgages; passports; the Dome; Reinaldo; guacamole.