Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-03-Speech-3-248"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030903.10.3-248"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that my report reflects the balance between the various viewpoints in this House, although the key point is of course the fact that trade is not the solution for development. I would like to thank everyone, Members and Secretariat staff alike, because there have been a great many amendments and we managed to achieve an agreed position in committee.
I believe that we have a long road ahead of us. We must act so as to correct the enormous disparities that exist, which means that we need not unrestrained trade but, rather, trade designed to meet the social and economic needs of all the people on this earth.
We are on the eve of the Fifth World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference, which is to be held in Cancún. In 1999, in the run up to Seattle, Commissioner Lamy, who will be negotiating on behalf of the 15 EU countries at Cancún, was given a specific mandate. However, the issues up for negotiation were different. I believe that the WTO now has enormous influence and that it has assumed too great a role, so much so that it almost seems to have become the new United Nations. In fact, this is just one of the reasons. I think that a new mandate is desirable, bearing in mind, not least, the objectives and commitments entered into by the European Union in different international forums.
Furthermore, the Doha Round, which was called a development round, has not been followed up; in fact, the proportionality relationship between liberalisation and development has not been proven to be correct. Quite the opposite, in fact: indiscriminate liberalisation and deregulation in developing countries have, in practice, proved to be extremely damaging to development objectives. Even where liberalisation has led to an increase in GDP, the distribution of wealth within the countries concerned has very often deteriorated.
For this reason the report calls for regional integration between developing countries, and a model of symmetrical market opening, so that the developed countries can dismantle their barriers to trade, including non-tariff barriers, giving the countries of the southern hemisphere the time they need to step up their production, make it more competitive, and expand their markets. I also think it is important to remember
how much we, the countries of the northern hemisphere, have benefited historically from protectionism on the way to our present level of development.
Nevertheless, every now and again we are surprised by the fact that the Commission insists, for example, and despite the resolution adopted by this House on 3 July 2003, on embarking on negotiations on the Singapore Issues. I do not have time to list all those issues, but they include public procurement. I do not think it is appropriate to open negotiations on these issues. The reasons for this relate, on the one hand, to the competences and power of the WTO, and on the other hand to the problem that I have already mentioned, namely the developing countries' lack of negotiating capacity. Indeed, these same countries stress in their reports that they are not in a position to support further negotiations.
I believe, in fact, that it is vital to tackle other issues and to give the special and differential treatment clause some real substance, by implementing a global system of guaranteed prices to support producers of commodities such as coffee and cotton. The issues that need to be dealt with in terms of development are achieving and promoting fair trade – something that is, in fact, being pioneered in civil society – and the provision of assistance to countries to enable them to diversify their production without creating enclaves in export sectors, by actually promoting the integration of those sectors with the rest of the economy.
It is my belief that development objectives should, above all, be related to the well-being of the population. I therefore consider that the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement, which states that the agreement may and should be interpreted so as to preserve the right of the Member States to protect public health, should be implemented without delay and without resorting to agreements stipulating procedures that are so restrictive and bureaucratic as to be unworkable. This aspect was covered thoroughly in Mr Lannoye's report, and in my own report, I, too, have, for example, stressed that it is important for essential goods such as water not to be left to market forces alone and that the European Union should pursue a policy of public funding not only for water distribution, but also to bring about the democratisation of water management as regards the management of springs, rivers and basins.
Any discussion of development should include the issue of debt, which was not, in fact, covered in the Commission document, although I concede that it was not strictly relevant. Highly indebted countries have debt-servicing obligations that can siphon off as much as a quarter of the value of their exports. I believe that the EU should commit itself to cancelling developing countries' debt, whilst providing for mechanisms for monitoring how capital sums resulting from debt cancellation are invested, so as to ensure that the benefits are genuinely felt by the population at large.
Another issue is the enactment of a code of conduct comprising ethical, social and environmental clauses intended for European undertakings that make direct investments. With regard to the negotiations to be held in Cancún, it must be pointed out that we need a democratic, transparent system within the WTO and sufficient negotiating capacity for all countries, which do not exist at present. These conditions are therefore virtually indispensable if we are to establish a level playing field."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples