Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-31-Speech-3-154"
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"en.20060531.15.3-154"2
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Madam President, I welcome this opportunity to continue the dialogue on trade issues with the European Parliament. Mr Markov’s contribution provides a wealth of information and policy prescriptions on how to tackle the crucial relationship between trade and poverty, both in our bilateral agreements and in multilateral negotiations.
With reference to the risk of fraudulent distortion of ‘Everything but Arms’, we should, of course, remain vigilant on triangular trade but, to our knowledge, only one case of abuse has been reported.
As to the recommendation to exclude public services from negotiations, we do not consider it necessary to renegotiate the GATT to exclude public services. It is entirely up to WTO members to decide which sectors they wish to open. We have, for instance, made it clear that we do not wish to take additional commitments on health, education and audiovisual services.
Let me once again thank all those who have contributed to this report for their political support and guidance, and for the constructive criticism and concrete suggestions for action contained in it and others like it. I remain committed to informing Parliament regularly and to listening to your views on major trade and development matters, as I have done to date and will continue to do in the future.
I share to a large extent the overall thrust of the report. As I have said on several occasions, I want to put trade at the service of development. Trade is the driver of economic growth and, in the right circumstances, it spreads prosperity, but it is not a panacea and does not automatically lead to poverty reduction. Trade liberalisation needs to be implemented gradually. It should take place within a stable and supportive domestic policy framework and, in some cases, will require flanking measures to help bring about the process of adjustment.
We are already doing a lot of what the report recommends we should do. I shall give a number of concrete examples. Firstly, in trade negotiations, including in the DDA and EPAs, and as recommended by the report, the EU respects the right of developing countries to liberalise progressively and to maintain flexibilities for their sensitive sectors. Within the DDA, the EU is keen to see countries contributing according to their capacities and levels of development. This lies behind the idea of special and differentiated treatment. We are responding favourably to LDCs’ and developing countries’ interests in services, including as regards Mode 4 and in the sectors they have requested. Also, under GATT, we respect the freedom of countries to decide whether, and to what extent, they open up their service sector. We have not made any service requests to LDCs. We have set up a scheme to support ACP sugar producers in adjusting to changes following our sugar reform, and we are conscious of the need to address preference erosion. We actively promote regional integration and South-South trade, which the report rightly recognises as key to development, especially for marginalised countries.
Beyond trade negotiations, in the area of building capacity, the EU – which is to say the Commission and Member States combined – provides more than 50% of the overall trade-related assistance funded worldwide. Commission-managed, trade-related assistance was around EUR 850 million a year in the period 2001-2004 and, on the basis of the pledge that President Barroso made at the last G8 Summit, this will rise to EUR 1 billion in 2007. We are actively engaged in the aid-for-trade debate taking place in the WTO.
The Commission is also a pioneer in carrying out trade sustainability impact assessments – SIAs – to assess the potential impact of trade liberalisation on all three pillars of sustainable development. Since 1999, we have carried out these assessments on all the EU’s major trade negotiations, identifying areas where flanking measures may be needed.
With respect to the recommendations of the report on labour standards and social rights, although labour is regrettably not part of the DDA, all our recent trade, bilateral and regional agreements recognise and promote social rights, including gender equality, child labour, forced labour and freedom of association. Moreover, through GSP+, we provide special incentives for developing countries that respect core labour rights. DG Trade is also funding an ILO pilot project on decent work indicators to predict and monitor the impact of trade on decent work.
I was also pleased to see in the report a number of recommendations addressed to other players. The report calls on other developed countries and advanced developing countries to implement duty-free, quota-free schemes for LDCs, matching our own ‘Everything but Arms’. After agreeing on 97% coverage in Hong Kong, I would suggest, nonetheless, that the United States needs to engage fully on the implementation of that commitment.
The report also calls on other WTO members to match the EU’s move in Hong Kong on export subsidies and to eliminate all forms of export support, including export credits and food aid. The report recommends substantial reductions of domestic subsidies by developed countries and a solution for cotton – again, key areas where we expect the United States to deliver.
Since this is an open dialogue between us, I should like to raise a couple of points where the Commission’s views differ from the report. Aid for trade is an essential complement, but in no way a substitute, for a development-friendly outcome in the main negotiating areas of the DDA. The biggest gains for developing countries lie in the market access component of the round and, in particular, in the South-South dimension."@en1
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