BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) - Sweden is trying to rally pro-free trade countries in the European Union to unite against what it sees as a better organised protectionist camp in the bloc, the country's trade minister said on Monday.

"We have seen more and more EU countries getting together among the protectionists ... It's scary for us as the watchdogs of free trade," Ewa Bjorling told Reuters.

"We have to watch out, every day, and we need to have much tighter collaboration among liberal countries," she said in an interview in Brussels after a meeting of EU trade ministers.

Bjorling said she had held talks recently with Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the three Baltic republics -- Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania -- and, crucially, Germany, about forming a more coordinated, pro-free trade group.

The initiative comes as France has been actively organising like-minded EU countries to oppose further concessions on agriculture in world trade negotiations and has also helped block any easing of Europe's anti-dumping rules on imports.

"We need to speak with one clear, strong voice as the protectionists have been doing," Bjorling said, noting anti-free trade "rhetoric" on the rise also in the United States where Democratic presidential candidates have questioned recent deals.

Sweden links its success as a small but wealthy nation largely to its trading instincts. It is widely seen as a leader of pro-free trade countries within the EU.

Stockholm regularly locks horns with EU partners that seek to hit cheap goods from China and other low-cost exporters with punitive duties.

LIBERAL GERMANY?

Bjorling declined to identify which EU states she considered protectionist.

But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has argued Europe needs more protection from unfair competition and has branded EU trade policy "naive" in its openness. Italy also presses hard for measures to protect its manufacturers.

EU trade chief Peter Mandelson was forced to shelve plans to reform the bloc's anti-dumping rules in January and he faces regular challenges from Paris and other capitals to his strategy for trying to get a global deal at the World Trade Organisation.

As the world's biggest exporter, Germany has traditionally been a supporter of free markets. But some trade experts say Berlin seems more worried than in the past about the prospect of job losses due to cheap imports and offshoring of production.

Germany, along with other EU countries, has pushed Brussels into compromises on two anti-dumping cases over the last year -- involving energy-saving light bulbs and air compressors -- when Mandelson had wanted no duties.

The next big anti-dumping dispute is likely to involve steel from China and other Asian countries, a complaint filed by steelmakers from Germany among other EU countries.

Bjorling said Germany, like any large economy, would always be torn between competing interest groups but hoped Berlin would stay true to its free trade instincts.

 "For Germany, you can see they have in their backbone a very liberal line," she said.

(Editing by Paul Taylor)

Reuters, Monday March 10 2008

By William Schomberg

Source: www.guardian.co.uk