European Union farm ministers took stock yesterday of the drive to liberalise agricultural trade following the collapse of WTO talks in Mexico

The ministers met on the Italian island of Sicily for a two-day informal session dominated by the failure of this month's World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Cancun. Subsidies paid to farmers in the EU and United States proved one of the biggest stumbling blocks that eventually tripped up the WTO gathering, as developing countries came together to demand faster reform. Ahead of the EU ministers' meeting in the tourist resort of Taormina, EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler cast doubt on whether WTO talks can resume quickly following the collapse of the Cancun meeting. The commissioner said, however, that he would continue to press for further reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, after a hard-fought deal reached by member states in June to shake up the CAP. That agreement will pave the way to limited reform to the way the EU subsidises its cereal and dairy farmers. Fischler was expected to brief the farm ministers on proposals he will release tomorrow to reform four sectors left untouched by the June accord - sugar, olive oil, tobacco and cotton.