Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-23-Speech-3-332"
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"en.20080423.23.3-332"2
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"Madam President, the Commission is grateful to Parliament for this insightful and timely report.
The shaping of a new multilateral policy after the conclusion of the Doha Round will be one of the most stimulating and difficult challenges for European trade policy. Parliament will take on an ever-growing role in designing and driving such policy, in particular once the Lisbon Treaty enters into force.
The Commission, and my colleague Mr Mandelson in particular, is looking forward to engaging with you in open and constructive dialogue in order to reach solid and realistic conclusions aimed at strengthening the WTO and the whole multilateral trade system.
Making sure the WTO can respond to the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy should be a major priority for the European Union. In addition, in the light of the current economic difficulties that many WTO members are facing, a strong multilateral institution is more essential than ever to counter the call for beggar-thy-neighbour protectionist policies.
The report recognises the central importance of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The Commission wishes to reiterate that any initiative in Geneva with regard to the future of the WTO will have to be calibrated and rooted in what we hope will be a successful outcome of the DDA.
Today, during what could be the final phase in the DDA negotiations, no WTO members would have the political willingness and/or the administrative resources to engage in a meaningful reflection on the reform of the WTO. We do expect and hope that this situation will evolve towards a final DDA deal to be signed before the end of 2008. This will also open the gates to a debate on the future of the WTO, a debate that will be highly dependent on whether the DDA is concluded successfully or not.
As to the ideas expressed in the report, the Commission shares most of them in principle, even if it is clear that some proposals put forward in the motion for a resolution will face strong resistance from certain WTO members.
With regard to institutional matters, the Commission remains supportive of enhancing the parliamentary dimension of the WTO and of other ideas, like granting additional resources to the WTO Secretariat and expanding its tasks, as well as strengthening the WTO active transparency mechanisms and to monitor and supervise effectively the application of the rules.
We note the call for openness in the dispute settlement procedures and would like to underline that it was based on our initiative, that some hearings in WTO cases involving the European Union have been open to the public.
As to the substantive proposals put forward in the report, the need to integrate non-trade concerns within the scope of WTO rules will remain a guiding principle of European Union policy within the multilateral framework, but also in the framework of its bilateral negotiations recently launched on the basis of the Global Europe Communication, and unilateral initiatives in favour of developing countries. The new unilateral system of tariff concessions in favour of developing countries, the General System of Preferences Plus, is an example of that.
The relation between trade policy and labour and environment will surely be an important area, and other trade subjects might appear on the agenda."@en1
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