(GENEVA) - France wants EU trade ministers to meet in Geneva next month during WTO talks to oversee the work of EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who France has accused of often overstepping his authority, a spokesman said on Monday.

France takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union from Slovenia on Tuesday.

Paris has called for EU trade ministers to hold a parallel meeting in Geneva in order to have up-to-the-minute information and an ongoing dialogue between the World Trade Organisation and the European Commission, which negotiates with the WTO on behalf of its 27 member states, a spokesman for the French EU presidency said at a press briefing here.

France has often criticised Mandelson for overstepping the mandate he was given by the Commission, the bloc's executive arm. Paris thinks the EU trade commissioner from Britain has made too many concessions in agriculture without getting in exchange sufficient concessions on industrial products and services.

Some 30 ministers from WTO member countries will meet in Geneva starting on July 21 to try to broker a Doha Round trade deal, aimed at a creating a new global agreement to remove barriers to trade and spur cross-border exchanges.

Trade negotiations have been deadlocked because of disagreements between the US and Europe, and developed and developing countries.

France also plans to gather EU trade ministers in Brussels to give "final instructions" to Mandelson and EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, before they take part in the WTO talks, the French presidency said.

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