European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson says EU trading partners are not ready to make what he calls the "hard decisions" needed for a world trade deal.
Monday, Mandelson made his first speech to the European Parliament since last month's World Trade Organization meeting ended with little progress. He said Hong Kong and other major European trading partners are not yet prepared to make the concessions needed to bring talks to a successful conclusion in 2006.
Mandelson said he will do what he can to meet a deadline for a deal, but not at Europe's expense. The EU says it has made significant compromises on such issues as farm subsidies to open its market to agricultural imports.
The United States and other countries say the E.U. has not gone far enough.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
