Brussels: Tensions between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson flared today over new criticism from the French leader, casting an early cloud over France's EU presidency.

The row came as France assumed the six-month presidency of the 27-nation bloc, after Sarkozy, renewing long-running complaints, suggested Mandelson and WTO head Pascal Lamy were trying to force an unfavourable trade deal on Europe.

Mandelson, speaking in Paris where he was attending a seminar, replied that he was "disappointed by what President Sarkozy has said."

"At a time like this when the EU is entering a tough negotiation, we need unity, not division. The facts that he described are not right and the claims that he made are not justified."

Sarkozy, who hosted the EU heads and Commissioners in Paris to mark the start of the French EU presidency, later hit back again, saying that the British commissioner would be loving the publicity.

"This is someone I have known for a long time and (he) must certainly be delighted with (the) publicity, which I don t hesitate to give him when I don t agree with him," Sarkozy said as EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso stood beside him.

The French leader has long been fiercely critical of the British EU commissioner, accusing him of offering excessively generous concessions on farming in fraught global negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.

The latest row was sparked by Sarkozy saying in an interview with French television channel France 3 yesterday that he would block any WTO agreement that would sacrifice farm production on the "altar of global liberalism."

Source : PTI