Brussels, 20/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - The debate is hotting up about the absence of Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson from the meeting of the Cairns Group in Australia, to seek to relaunch the Doha Round (EUROPE 9268). On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticised the EU having shown a "certain amount of indifference" by failing to send its top negotiator to Cairns, where the Union is represented by its ambassador to the WTO, Carlo Trojan. "The facts speak for themselves. I know that the Europeans do not like to be criticised (...), but I am speaking on behalf of our farmers", Mr Howard told the press, adding: "I know exactly how disinclined the political leaders in Europe are to do enough to phase out the high level of subsidy". "Up to now, Europe has not moved far enough", and they are "not the only ones", he said, referring to Japan and the United States. In Cairns, the American Trade Representative, Susan Schwab, said that "Mr Mandelson's presence would have been useful" and, criticising the EU's "lack of ambition", she called for the "creation of a coalition of open minds, not closed minds, to put forward ideas, new proposals". She added that she believes it is "still possible to get a breakthrough" between now and next March, when the American Congress is to decide whether or not to renew the American negotiation mandate.