Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-24-Speech-3-139"
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"en.20011024.6.3-139"2
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"Mr President, after 11 September, we have every reason to redouble our commitment to multilateralism.
Persisting with the Doha meeting and making it a success are, therefore, of considerable political importance. Of course, we cannot at this stage hope for the sea change that is required, but adapting, improving and consolidating the WTO system would at least be a good start. As supporters of the multilateral approach, we must fulfil this commitment.
The criminals who destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center know the value of symbols. Making trade the focus of coexistence with other countries is a deeply reductive approach and directing world trade centrally is unacceptable. Multilateralism must be neither asymmetrical nor imperialist. Doha will not be Seattle, however. Civil movements have helped to make their leaders think, the southern countries are, with the welcome support of the Commission, playing an increasingly important role and the time when Carla Hills wanted to use a crowbar to open up other countries’ markets to her own will will soon be a thing of the past.
Doha is not a sign of a new wave of liberalisations, but nor is it an agenda for development. It will be something vague between the two. An agenda will be negotiated there whose objectives will remain general. There has been no prior negotiation of the outcome, fortunately, and we approve of the principle of the Union’s mandate: to set a broad agenda, but more than just balancing liberalisation by means of rules, there is no getting away from the fact that we must try to resolve the contradictions between society’s choices and trade rules.
The social issue is symbolic. The main front on which we need to fight is finance, and a Union which allows tax havens to flourish within its borders must put its own house in order. Nobody can claim, though, that trade has nothing to do with fundamental rights. The WTO may not be the place to produce social conventions, but it certainly does have a responsibility to ensure coherence. The implementation of the Marrakech agreements and the incorporated agenda on agriculture and services will be at the centre of the forthcoming round. The legitimacy of the trade interests of the South must be recognised but the problem will lie in preventing negotiations boiling down to a process of tough haggling over their interests and our own. The concerns of northern societies as of those of the South must lead to a change in trade rules and to break their monopoly that favours one group. With this in mind, we must accept that we will have to open the door to the renegotiation of certain rules, in particular, those concerning intellectual property.
Lastly, although the democratisation of the WTO will certainly not be on the agenda, it is nevertheless clear that this round will not succeed if it is nothing more than a diplomatic battle between countries, even if the European Union is happy to play the honest mediator. Civil society must be involved; we must consult our citizens and take account of their criticism and their demands. This is the only way to ensure that democracy will penetrate the WTO."@en1
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