Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-075"
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"en.19991117.3.3-075"2
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"Mr President, we find the report by our fellow Member, Mr Schwaiger, regarding the WTO Millennium Round, completely satisfactory, since it goes in the direction of respect for differences, be they cultural or economic. I wish to congratulate him on this considerable work on a subject as complex and polemical as the WTO.
In this Chamber we have already clearly expressed our concerns and reservations with regard to this new round of negotiations. I am, however, pleased that French demands regarding cultural diversity and social standards have been taken into account.
Like the rapporteur, we share the concern of defending the specificity of the pluralist European farm model, based on family farms, which are often subjected to significant geographical and environmental constraints. In the face of globalisation, it is essential to take account of these differences which considerably change the rules of the economic game, with drastic consequences in social terms.
The urgent need to establish a more democratic negotiating system, operating in a more transparent way, seems justified, in my view. It is indeed essential for parliaments to be involved in on-going consultation, with real respect for the procedures. We are indeed very concerned about the Council and the Commission’s remarkable capacity to withhold information. I also deplore the fact that the recommendations made to the Commission regarding small and medium-sized enterprises were limited to customs duties. All procedures for these small and medium-sized enterprises should be simplified, since these are the only businesses capable of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Finally, I appreciate the fact that Mr Schwaiger stressed the precautionary principle, in order to integrate environmental policies into trade policies, and I share his concern regarding the risks of a putative eco-protectionism which has nothing to do with the protection of citizens’ health."@en1
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