Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-278"
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".
Mr President, I wish to begin by congratulating Mr Moreno Sánchez on his excellent report, which reflects very well not only on its author but also on this House as a whole. I welcome this debate, because I regard Parliament as the Commission's essential partner in the conduct of our trade policies, that is, in particular, the case in advance of the Doha Round, which remains our number one priority.
We made progress in Paris. We reached agreement on the vital but highly technical issue of the conversion of specific duties – so many euros per bushel of this, so many euros per kilo of that – into their percentage ad valorem equivalents. While the core issue of how much and on what basis these tariff equivalents will be reduced remains to be discussed – that will come later – we now have a basis on which we can move forward on agriculture and, as a result, on all other aspects of the DDA. On this I should like to acknowledge and pay tribute to the work of Mrs Fischer Boel. Agriculture is a tough subject and I respect how she handles it.
We can also expect progress in relation to industrial tariffs in the months to come. Many members also reaffirm their intention to submit improved offers on services by the end of this month. We expect intensified discussions among key players between now and the mini-ministerial in China, which will take place on 12 and 13 July. Before the summer break, we should see a first approximation of what a possible Hong Kong package could look like. If there is any chance of an ambitious outcome in Hong Kong at the end of this year, and thus an ambitious Round, this first approximation, which I hope that we can see in July, should, at the very least, firstly, establish areas of growing convergence amongst WTO members issue by issue. It should also provide clarity about our shared level of ambition on the core market access issues – agriculture, NAMA and services; and, finally, identify the key problem areas on which agreement will have to be struck to ensure success at Hong Kong and then complete the Round.
I am glad that these ideas are contained in the chair's summary of the Paris mini-ministerial. You can rest assured that it is in this spirit of high ambition that the Commission will continue to work towards Hong Kong.
The Commission wholeheartedly agrees with much of the report, but I just wish to pick out two specific points. Regarding the special mention of flexibility for developing countries in paragraph 6 of the report, the Commission agrees with the thrust of the point being made. We are prepared to grant flexibility to developing countries through special and differential treatment, both for LDCs and other weak and vulnerable countries. However, we can do this only if we take the level of development into account and that means differentiating between developing countries issue by issue. We cannot simply accept a 'one-size-fits-all'.
The second point concerns the suggestion of a 'development box' in the agriculture negotiations mentioned in paragraph 9. The Commission can agree that the framework can and should protect EU interests. However, it is over optimistic to say that: '… the EU will be able to cope
with these reductions' in domestic aids that distort trade. On market access, the report assumes that very positive treatment granted to sensitive products will allow the EU to protect its market organisations. This is certainly what the EU hopes, but difficult concessions on some products will still have to be made, even in the best of circumstances.
Let me finish there. I will listen to what Members of this House have to say and respond at the end, if and when I have an opportunity to do so. Again, I thank Mr Moreno Sánchez for his report and this House for the opportunity to debate this very important subject.
Mr Moreno Sánchez has underlined the need to make progress on all the issues in this wide-ranging agenda, with a clear emphasis – which I strongly support – on the objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable development. Those were at the heart of the founding charter of this Round, and they remain as important today as they were when they were first articulated.
Since I took office, I have made every effort to advance the DDA and to keep it on track. I want Doha to put trade at the service of development. That is what I believe in and stand for, and it is at the heart of the policies I am pursuing.
However, Europe cannot do this on its own. As I said in Geneva on my very first day as Trade Commissioner, the EU cannot be the WTO's sole banker. Last summer, Europe had the courage to put its agricultural export subsidies on the negotiating table. It is now up to others to show their hand. In concrete terms, this Round has to yield improved market access and increased business opportunities all round, not only for developing countries – I expect and want them to be the biggest winners of this Round – but also for our own industry and service providers in Europe. That will enable us to build on Europe's strengths in the knowledge economy, for the prosperity and benefit of all.
Market access in industrial products – NAMA – and services too are key issues in the Round. Without progress on these issues, there can be no conclusion to the Round. To achieve this, I want to ensure that the more advanced developing countries engage more intensively on non-agricultural issues. Thus far, they have pushed hard their case on agriculture, as they are perfectly entitled to do, and as I would expect them to do. However, they have shown little willingness to embrace the necessity of real movement on their part on NAMA and on services, even where objective analysis suggests this would be in their own economic interest. This has to change. We all have to show a willingness to adapt, to change and to accommodate others' interests. That is why we have made our move on agriculture.
The other main industrialised countries now need to follow our example to be more proactive on services and to work on their own agricultural reforms in order to match what we in Europe have put forward.
Last week, several informal meetings of WTO trade ministers took place in Paris. I expressed my very real concern about the slow pace of the present negotiations. I called on all members to stop playing their cards so close to their chests and start putting them on the table. That goes for all of us, I am not just pointing the finger at others. We all need to do that, not Europe alone.
I also explained our idea of what an ambitious round should amount to. It requires parallel progress on all three pillars of the agricultural negotiations – not just export subsidies – including the tariffs and quotas that restrict market access. There must be visible efforts by all industrialised countries – not only the EU – to reform their farm policies; and a substantial and real – not just paper – reduction of industrial tariffs by all countries in a position to do this, including the advanced developing countries, always respecting the special circumstances of the weak. Offers on services that provide genuine new business opportunities must be tabled and the WTO's rulebook substantially strengthened, be this in regard to trade facilitation, anti-dumping or geographical indications.
I also renewed my plea for additional efforts to address the specific concerns of the developing countries, and especially – though not exclusively – the poor and vulnerable ones, through special and differential treatment in the Round and by the richer parts of the world substantially stepping up aid for trade. You are quite right to identify capacity-building – the essential support we need to give – to enable trade to take place to facilitate that adjustment, so that developing countries, in particular the weaker ones, can genuinely participate in the opportunities for trade that we are advancing through this Round."@en1
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