Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said the EU has to take a firm and united stand at the WTO talks starting Tuesday, and downplayed tensions notably over farm subsidies, where France does not want to give any more ground.

"I think we will get a good mandate for the Commission and we have see to it that all member states of course are on the same line," said, referring to the European Commission which will represent the EU in Geneva.

He added that he had "high hopes" all EU states would agree on agricultural subsidies.

The WTO negotiations starting Tuesday, the first since the breakdown of talks in Cancun in Mexico last September, is seen as crucial ahead of changes of administration in both Europe and the United States later this year.

Failure to reach a deal in the so-called Doha round of talks could lead to a stalemate in the talks that could last for years, WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi has warned.

The EU will be represented in Geneva by Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, one of the two French commissioners.

The Commission, the EU's executive arm, welcomed a new draft compromise as "a basis for further work" when the head of the WTO's general council, Japanese ambassador Shotaro Oshima, presented it in mid-July.

But France disagrees with the commission on the issue of farm subsidies. France has complained that the Oshima compromise "is deeply unbalanced to the disadvantage of the EU."

The Commission points out that the latest WTO plan makes room, for example, for market access for certain sensitive products for developed countries. It also takes up the demand by Brussels for equivalent treatment for export subsidies, which are largely used by the EU, and other mechanisms of support such as food aid, which the US commonly uses.

Responding to the concerns of Raffarin and France's powerful farming lobby, European Commission head Romano Prodi said France was also mistaken about the negotiating timetable because the talks next week are aimed at defining a framework for more conclusive talks and are not the conclusions themselves, which will depend on the balance of compromises to come.