French President Shuns Mandelson

Written by Cian MacSweeny
Sunday, 22 June 2008
IFA President Padraig Walshe, speaking at the opening of Farmfest ’08 in Galway, has said that he welcomes President Sarkozy’s blunt rebuttal of Peter Mandelson’s negotiating tactics on behalf of the European Union. He added that the French President was correct in making note of the damage that Commissioner Mandelson had done to farmer opinion in period before the Lisbon Treaty referendum. The IFA say that President Sarkozy's statement is proof that their demand for the veto was the correct strategy. According to the IFA, 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.