WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR EU TRADE POLICY?
That will depend partly on who is Mandelson’s replacement — not necessarily another Briton. Whoever gets the job is unlikely to have the profile of the 54-year-old Mandelson, one of the few genuine stars in the current European Commission and who appeared to relish locking horns with critics. Supporters say that during his four-year spell in Brussels, Mandelson managed to rid the EU of many protectionist reflexes aimed at safeguarding its farming and other sectors, and placed it broadly on a par with the U.S. trade stance. “It’s been a battle to the death with him, he had us on ropes a few times,” Padraig Walshe, President of Irish Farmers Association, told Reuters. French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Mandelson of being a naive free marketeer, and his departure will be cheered by critics who may now push on with their demands that Europe do more to protect companies and jobs in the face of unfair competition from economies with low social standards. “There is an immediate challen
