Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-05-Speech-2-010"
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"en.20060905.5.2-010"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, on 24 July, the Director-General of the WTO, Mr Pascal Lamy, announced, as a result of the meeting of the trade negotiations committee of the WTO in Geneva, the
suspension of the Doha Round negotiations. I hope that this suspension is provisional and that the talks are not reduced to ashes, but rather that a phoenix can rise from them – as the Commissioner has said.
This decision, which, provisionally, has put an end to five years of negotiations and more than seven years of diplomatic efforts, has led to great uncertainty within the multilateral framework of the WTO trade negotiations and, furthermore, it raises a problem with regard to an informal time limit, which is more political than chronological: the forthcoming expiry of the mandate of the Trade Promotion Authority, granted to the President by the United States Congress to allow him to negotiate in global terms.
Mr President, I would say in passing that it is odd that for an organisation such as the WTO, which is an intergovernmental organisation and a ministerial conference, everything depends on a decision by a Parliament, the United States Congress, highly respectable though it is. The other Parliaments of the world, beginning with the European Parliament, also have the right to express an opinion, without imposing any kind of condition, or any guillotines, such as those currently being imposed by the United States Congress. In this regard, I would like to say that next week, in the governing committee of the parliamentary assembly that we have created between the European Parliament and the Interparliamentary Union, we will have the opportunity to discuss and work on this issue with representatives of the majority of the world’s Parliaments, because we believe that this is an issue that concerns all of us.
We in Parliament, and specifically in the Committee on International Trade, have not waited until the holidays were over to express our concern. I did so, on behalf of that Committee, immediately after the announcement, pointing out that we cannot resign ourselves to a definitive failure of the negotiations. What we have to see is how we can move on from this crossroads and how we can put the process back on track. There have been a series of contacts and bilateral meetings during August and I hope that the Commissioner can tell us about any opportunities for progress.
I also believe that the Commission must try to exploit its mandate as far as it possibly can, because we have responsibilities. Firstly, to defend our interests, but at the same time also to promote the principle that a multilateral system which benefits everybody, not just the developed countries, but also those countries that should be the main objective of the negotiation – the developing countries and, above all, the least-developed countries – can truly play a fundamental role, such as the one the European Union should play as the world’s leading commercial power.
I therefore believe that it is important for the European Parliament to speak out and to support the possibility that we can continue with, put back on track and renew the objective of achieving a Doha Round for development and also to support the Commission – which has not had much of a holiday in this regard – which we hope can continue working to conclude this Round.
There is still a margin for manoeuvre; there always is a margin in politics, though, chronologically speaking, the time limits are running out, and perhaps the need to act quickly can help. Mr President, we believe that the comments the Commissioner can make today are important and, above all, we want him to know that he can count on our concern, our support and our desire for this Round to once again become a process geared towards a more prosperous and cooperative humanity in the future."@en1
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