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BRUSSELS: Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, has called on his Brussels colleagues to take a tough stance against the "simplistic solutions of economic nationalism" and to fight resurgent protectionism in Europe.
Mandelson's call to arms comes amid criticism from Nordic countries and leading continental liberals that the European Commission (EC) has backed away from a bruising confrontation with "protectionist" member states.
Mandelson says that the Commission's credibility is on the line as it tries to defend the EU's single market against member states shielding their national energy and banking sectors from foreign takeovers. "If we find our member states reaching out for simplistic solutions of economic nationalism, whether in the energy or other sectors, we have to take a clear stand," he said.
He acknowledged that this could lead to "difficult clashes with some of our member states", but emphasised that "these tests are a great challenge to our credibility; that is what we have to understand for the remainder of our mandate".
Mandelson said this was "a crucial moment for the politics of the global economy" and that some members of the 25-nation bloc were succumbing to the "dangerous temptations of protectionism".
The British commissioner said José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, had "staked out the ground" on which he would play his role as defender of the EU's single market, but said difficult tests lay ahead.
The Commission has written to France asking for an explanation of the government's role in merging Gaz de France with Suez, the Franco-Belgian power and water company. The government's intervention blocked a takeover of Suez by rival Enel of Italy.
Brussels is also at loggerheads with Poland over alleged protectionism in its banking sector and has quizzed Spain over its attempts to halt the takeover of Endesa, the power company, by Eon of Germany.
Mr. Barroso's officials say the Commission is doing everything in its powers under EU treaty law to defend the single market's guarantee of free movement of capital.
But the EU executive -- dismissed last year as "ultra-liberal" by Jacques Chirac, the French president -- now finds itself accused by Nordic countries and liberal politicians of bowing to protectionist forces.
Thomas Östros, Swedish trade and industry minister, told the FT that Mr Mandelson himself had been forced to apply tariffs and quotas to imported goods from Asia under pressure from some member states, with furniture the latest product in the line of fire.
"Fear of globalisation is undermining most decisions in Europe," Östros said.
Graham Watson, leader of the 90-member Liberal group in the European parliament, said: "The European Commission needs to be far stronger in defence of the internal market. An exchange of polite letters between Brussels and national capitals is insufficient to deal with behaviour that is pandering to populist nationalism and rapidly undermining the European internal market."
Bronislaw Geremek, a Polish MEP, says he thinks the Commission is doing what it can, but believes "the very future of the EU is at stake", faced with a rising tide of economic nationalism that he says would have been "unbelievable 15 years ago".
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