Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-06-Speech-4-056"
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"en.20060706.5.4-056"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the result of the WTO ministerial meeting held in Geneva from 29 June to 1 July is clearly a disappointment. We went to Geneva the previous week to hold a meeting of the Steering Committee of the WTO Parliamentary Assembly that we have created with the Interparliamentary Union. The Director-General, Mr Lamy, told us that it was the moment of truth and, as he himself has said, the result we are faced with is that we are in crisis.
The Chinese have a character to illustrate the idea of crisis, which I believe can be applied to the current situation of the WTO: the upper part means 'mortal danger' and lower part, 'opportunity'. I believe that we are in a situation in which what is at stake is the survival of the WTO as a multilateral platform for consolidating world trade and the process of globalisation, in order to ensure that the WTO does not fall apart and we do not return to bilateral approaches, which may be useful within a multilateral framework, but which, if they become an alternative to the multilateral, would be extremely destructive in the long term.
This is the situation we are in and, furthermore, time is fast running out for the US President's authorisation from the United States Congress to negotiate, which is known as the Trade Promotion Authority.
I must say, in this regard, that I believe that there will be negotiations at these meetings. The method chosen by the recently appointed Mrs Schwab, the US Trade Representative, is not the best method: to meet on Capitol Hill and have a photo taken before coming out with 56 Senators and with the representatives of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which is the most important agricultural lobby. That may be appropriate for going to play in the Football World Cup, but it is not the best method for going to a negotiation of this kind. I believe that we must point this out to our colleagues in the United States Congress.
The fact is that that is the situation we are in, and the Director-General, Mr Lamy, has been given a mandate to try to determine the methods for applying the agreements reached in Hong Kong. In this regard, I believe that Mr Lamy is being asked, by means of travelling diplomacy — not an exploratory mission — to find a solution by means of what we in the European Union institutions call the confessionary system, that is to say, to try, by means of bilateral meetings amongst the interlocutors, to talk about things that nobody dare raise at a table, either in the green room or in the general meeting. Above all because, when something is put on the table, it is no longer part of the negotiation, but rather it is something acquired. In this respect, I believe that we must continue to support this process.
From Parliament’s point of view, as Commissioner Mandelson knows, we are following the process very closely: a delegation from Parliament travelled to Geneva, having travelled to the Assembly the week before.
I must point out that we have obtained an interview with the Presidency of the Council, both the outgoing Presidency and the incoming Presidency, although it is not what we achieved in Cancún, which was to talk to the 133 Committee, and that our collaboration with the Commission has been very positive, both with Commissioner Mandelson and with Commissioner Fischer Boel. Not only have they given us important information, but we have also been able to work together, building bridges and holding talks. I must also tell you that we were given some excellent coffee in the Council building.
It now falls to the Commissioner to explain to us why it was not possible to make progress, above all, on the basis of agriculture and the NAMA, with other products, and also to what extent we can make progress on services. Furthermore, I believe that it would be useful for the Commissioner to explain to us how far he has remained within the mandate, because that is one of the criticisms that have been levelled at him and that I imagine will be again.
I believe that you have acted well, but in any event, Madam President, these are my questions on behalf of the European Parliament."@en1
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