At the start of a crunch week for trade liberalisation talks, European foreign ministers have reaffirmed their commitment to the latest proposals to cut trade barriers.

The World Trade Organisation's general council begins four days of talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Friday set as a deadline for reaching agreement on the latest package of framework agreements related to the Doha Development Agenda.

With the EU paying a key role in the talks, the bloc's 25 foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to consider whether draft proposals put forward by general council chairman Shotaro Oshima are acceptable as the basis for future negotiations.

Oshima has warned that this Friday is a "drop-dead" deadline for agreement.

And the EU foreign ministers gave the proposals their backing, saying they wanted to "maintain the momentum" generated over recent weeks.

Their move came despite concerns voiced by French president Jacques Chirac, who has branded the draft agreement as "unacceptable".

"This proposal is profoundly unbalanced to the detriment of the interests of the European Union," he had warned.

"France wants the Doha round to be completed but would not be able to give its backing to negotiations worked out on such a basis."

But last week the British government, which is keen to see the Doha round succeed, called for flexibility on the proposals.

"All WTO members will need to show flexibility if we are to build the necessary consensus we hoped to have achieved in Cancun," said UK international development secretary Hilary Benn.

"But it is the richest WTO members that need to make the greatest movement in the negotiations."

The Commission negotiates on behalf of the 25 nations, but within a mandate set by the governments.

And the Dutch presidency of the EU said that trade ministers had already given "broad support" for the Commission's strategy and tactics.

The Commission has presented its initial analysis of the WTO plans, saying they are a reasonable basis for negotiations but still require a number of improvements from the EU's perspective.

Trade commissioner Pascal Lamy held further talks with the foreign ministers on Monday.

And the ministers "agreed on a clear political message of support to the European Commission, with the purpose of maintaining the momentum for the Doha round of negotiations and achieving a proper negotiating result".

In a sop to the French, who were believed to lack heavyweight support to back up their concerns, the statement added that the Commission should be "taking into account the wishes of member states".

As the talks in Geneva continue, the foreign ministers will hold a further meeting later this week, either in Brussels of Geneva.