Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 41 • 4th December 2003

EC Outlines Approach For Getting Round Back On Track

Do More

Subscribe to Bridges

* required

Email Address: *

Country: *
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democractic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia (Hrvatska) Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong S.A.R. Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau S.A.R. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, The New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua new Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts And Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent And The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks And Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis And Futuna Islands Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

Employment Sector: *

First Name:

Last Name:

Organisation:

Enter the letters shown above:*

Download this issue

See also

On 2 December, EU trade ministers and the European Parliament met to discuss and approve a new European Commission strategy paper for the trade negotiations entitled "Reviving the DDA Negotiations — the EU Perspective" (see http://trade- info.cec.eu.int/doclib/docs/2003/november/tradoc_114259.pdf). The paper was released by the Commission on 26 November (see BRIDGES Weekly, 26 November 2003). The European Commission’s D-G Trade negotiates on trade issues on behalf of the EU member states.

The Commission paper begins by outlining the current state of play in negotiations, following the collapse in Cancun and ways to relaunch talks as the EU comes out of its "reflection period" (see BRIDGES Weekly, 30 October 2003). In the paper, the Commission re-states a commitment to the multilateral trade approach and the Doha round of trade talks, while stressing the need for all WTO Members to adjust their negotiating positions in order to arrive at compromises. The Commission outlines areas in which Europe could show new flexibility, such as the Singapore issues, environment and geographic indications (GIs), as well as areas in which Europe would like to see flexibility from its trading partners, including agriculture and the cotton initiative. The Commission calls for a continued high level of ambition in services and industrial market access. It also suggests that the negotiations should lead to results that "genuinely support the integration of developing countries as opposed to measures that perpetuate the development gap".

Lamy, Fischler outline EC approach

At a press conference, EC Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said "we have to restart the process and we are showing that we are ready to pay the price for the process to restart. That does not guarantee at all that the process will restart, but if the others do what we do — adjust their positions, give signals that they can change their positions a bit — then the round will get back on track".

EC Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler stressed that "the EU is absolutely prepared to shoulder a bigger burden to make agriculture markets more open. But without properly addressing the complexities of farm support, without tackling protectionism and trade barriers not only in industrialised countries but also among developing countries, without giving the poorest countries special treatment, we will not get a fair WTO deal." He said all developed countries should grant least developed countries (LDCs) duty free market access, and all countries, both developed and developing, should reduce tariffs for poorer developing countries to increase their ability to trade their way out of poverty. On agriculture, Fischler said the EC’s reforms of last summer had to be recognised, and the debate had to move beyond unhelpful rhetoric. He stressed the importance of the G-20 alliance adopting a give-and-take approach.

Civil society criticism of EC strategy paper

After its release, the Greens in the European Parliament and a number of civil society groups criticised the strategy paper for failing to substantially renew the EC position, especially on the Singapore issues. Caroline Lucas, a UK member of the European Parliament, said that after the collapse in Cancun, "we all expected the Commission to have a serious strategic re-think. What we have instead is tactical repositioning whereby some — or maybe even all — of the contentious Singapore issues will be taken off the immediate multilateral negotiating agenda but not removed from the WTO’s table". She felt this ignored the opposition of developing countries in Cancun, and might provoke a new deadlock in talks. Peter Hardstaff of the World Development Movement commented that "the Commission’s response to the emphatic rejection of its policy by the developing world in Cancun has not been to ask whether it has the wrong policy but to come up with another strategy for getting what it wants".

EU foreign ministers are expected to approve the strategy paper at a meeting from 8-9 December, just prior to a WTO General Council meeting on 15 December.

ICTSD reporting; "EU Members Moving to Support EC Stance On Reviving Doha Talks; NGOs Not Impressed," WTO REPORTER, 4 December 2003; "Greens/EFA decry lack of proper consultation on WTO talks," GREENS RELEASE, 3 December 2003; "Stand-off between US and EU will not harm global trade talks, says Lamy," FINANCIAL TIMES, 28 November 2003; "EU trade ministers told: Time to learn the lesson of Cancun," WDM, FOE, CEO RELEASE, 28 November 2003.

.