Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-13-Speech-1-068"
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"en.19991213.3.1-068"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner Lamy and others have spoken of the Seattle meeting as a failure but I still believe that, if the EU and the US in particular learn the lessons of the past few weeks, the meeting in Seattle could still go down in history not as a failure but as the moment when world leaders finally realised that they need a radically different approach to international trade.
First, they must learn that rich countries can no longer get something for nothing. If they want rightly to link social and environmental concerns with trade they will need both to prove that their motives are not protectionist and to deliver substantial gains for developing countries in return. Those gains could include tariff-free access for all goods from the poorest countries, the abolition of tariff peaks and agreements to stop export dumping.
Second, it is clear that trade deals can no longer be secretly stitched up between the more powerful WTO members. Developing countries have shown a new determination to resist such marginalisation. The playing field between the richer and poorer countries is anything but level. If you look at negotiating capacity alone, the EU and the US were present in Seattle with whole armies of lawyers and advisors. The poorer countries were there with very few. I have also heard – and I would be grateful to know if this is true – that 30 countries, members of the WTO, could not even afford to be at the meeting to negotiate.
The WTO process needs to be made far more democratic and transparent. I believe that we need a forum to discuss proposals for radical reform with the environmental and development groups who have been working on this subject for a great many years. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. There are good proposals out there. We need to learn from them.
Finally, WTO members must at last listen to the 1 200 non-governmental organisations from nearly 100 countries who signed a declaration demanding no further trade liberalisation until the social and environmental impacts of existing liberalisation have been addressed and the problems put right. The stalling of the talks in Seattle gives us an opportunity to do just that."@en1
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