Brussels, 19/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - During 18 September's Agriculture Council, several Member States: France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Cyprus called on the Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel to confirm or quash rumours and press speculation about Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson having made a new offer to the WTO on reducing customs duties and agricultural product domestic support, during a meeting of the G20 in Rio on 10 September (EUROPE 9262). French minister Dominique Bussereau also called for explanations about the response from the Commission to a letter from the US that provided new figures on custom duty and domestic support reductions. Ms Fischer Boel repeated that “nothing has happened” since the suspension of negotiations and that the Commission was not expecting much until the mid-term elections in the US next November.