(BRUSSELS) - EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the opening of key world trade talks Sunday, but warned that Europe's partners "must make a major contribution" if a deal was to be struck.

Crunch talks of the World Trade Organisation's so-called Doha round -- begun in the Qatari capital in 2001 -- re-open in Geneva with a dinner Sunday night, with differences over the developed world's agricultural subsidies to the fore.

Barroso, in a statement in Brussels, said the talks were "perhaps the last great opportunity" to conclude the Doha round.

But he added: "For those negotiations to succeed, the other developed countries and the emerging economies in the WTO also have to make a major contribution. The overall result has to be balanced and ambitious.

"Europe cannot be the sole banker of this deal. Moreover, Doha is not just about agriculture -- we also need to make progress on industrial tariffs, and in other areas of the negotiations such as services and geographical indications. The Round can and must succeed, but there is a lot of work to do - on all sides".

However, the EU's own position in the talks has been undermined by a public spat between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

Mandelson is viewed with suspicion in Paris as a "neoliberal" prepared to sacrifice France's hefty agricultural sector for the sake of a deal.

Sarkozy bluntly asserted earlier this month that conditions were not right for a WTO agreement.

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