Luxembourg, 10/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who was invited to brief Monday's EU Council (see related articles) on the way Doha talks are shaping up, urged all WTO members to firmly commit to meeting the 30 April deadline when the 149 member countries are to have finalised the arrangements (figures and other provisions) for a deal on agriculture and manufactured goods (NAMA - non-agricultural market access). Mandelson stressed that they would be wrong to ease pressure on the timetable and gave his assurance that the Union remains resolved to meet the end-of-April deadline. The Commissioner welcomed the fact that the EU25 had renewed their commitment “loud and clear” to conclude “an ambitious Doha round in which all parties made commitments that reflected their capacities”. “The EU is ready to pay more than others, but we must get something in return”, he explained, before adding that the Union has been preparing itself since the Hong Kong meeting to “come forward and explore further flexibilities and overtures on the basis of the current offers” but added “the demands of others remain too high, while their offers remain too low”. He clearly accused the United States and the emerging countries of the G-20 (Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Mexico) of making the current process more fragile. The Union will not make another offer, Mandelson told the press after his meeting with foreign ministers. “We made an offer on 28 October last (EUROPE 9059) and we have not received anything back. Current developments do not encourage us to make another move of this kind”, he said. Mr Mandelson criticised “voices elsewhere, notably in the US Congress” who have questioned the level of confidence and ambition that should be placed in the Doha Round. Particularly shocking, he said, was the appeal made by The Financial Times of 10 April by US Senator Bill Thomas, who called for multilateral talks to be broken off in favour of bilateral free trade agreements. Mr Mandelson was of the view that “such interventions are unwelcome and untimely”.