Posted on 09/10/2003 10:36:30 PM PDT by Pikamax
EU reneges on pledge to third world
Opening day of meeting clouded by row as commission tries to dilute concessions on agriculture offered to developing countries
Larry Elliott and Charlotte Denny Thursday September 11, 2003 The Guardian
The European commission was last night secretly preparing to sabotage plans to help poor countries trade their way out of poverty, as backstairs wrangling dominated the opening day of the World Trade Organisation's talks in Cancun, Mexico. A confidential paper not shown even to member governments, including the UK, revealed that the commission was planning to water down the already modest concessions on offer to the world's poorest countries in the talks.
British officials were left in the embarrassing position of borrowing a copy of the leaked EU paper from aid campaigners so that they could find out what the commission was planning.
"We aren't aware of the status of this paper and we weren't consulted on it," said Margaret Beckett, Britain's agriculture secretary.
In an attempt to safeguard the interests of its six million farmers, the commission is seeking to remove all mention of eliminating export subsidies from the WTO meeting's final declaration. The move has enraged developing countries, who won a pledge from the west two years ago that phasing out payments which allow subsidised western produce to be dumped on world markets would form a centrepiece of the so-called Doha development round.
"The EU still claims it wants this to be a development round," said Adriano Campolina Soares, of ActionAid. "Yet for all its fine language, the EU's proposals attack developing countries in every area of the talks."
The news emerged as a coalition of 21 developing countries, led by Brazil, sought to prevent the US and the EU from taking over the agenda with their own joint proposals. Joined by China and India, the group said it represented more than 60% of the world's farmers, whereas the EU and the US accounted for less than 1%.
The WTO's director general, Supachai Panitchapkdi, was last night trying to defuse the growing row.
WTO sources said a draft negotiating text prepared by ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay was only a starting point, even though it largely reflected the position of the EU and US.
Brazil has proposed an alternative text, but WTO officials fear that the meeting could be bogged down in a lengthy procedural dispute and end in failure.
Europe was looking increasingly isolated as the talks kicked off. As the focus for the developing countries' anger over agriculture, it was facing an uphill struggle to achieve its main objective at the talks - a new global deal on investment and competition policy, and protection for its traditional food names, such as parma ham and prosciutto.
The US, by contrast, was preparing last night to offer concessions on cotton to some of the poorest African countries, one of the key demands being made by development agencies. The US spends £2.5bn a year supporting its 25,000 cotton farmers, which campaigners say depresses world prices.
Privately, trade sources say the EU's chances of securing a deal in investment are slim while it is seen as the main obstacle to reform of agriculture.
"Unless the EU changes its position it will be the undertaker of the development round. Each broken promise bangs another nail in the coffin," said Oisin Coghlan of Christian Aid.
Inaugurating the meeting, Mr Panitchpakdi said it was time for the WTO's 146 members to agree on removing barriers to trade. "There comes a time when rhetoric has to be backed by action," he said. "We should learn from the past and face the reality that we cannot keep postponing decisions."
In a speech read to the gathering, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, accused the richest countries of leaving billions of people in poverty and misery by their unfair trade policies.
"The EU is ready to play ball," the European agriculture commissioner, Franz Fischler, said. "[But] we cannot take a general commitment that we can phase out subsidies on everything."
The US trade representative, Robert Zoellick, whose country has put forward a joint plan with the EU for farm reform,said: "Many of us believe maybe the European Union can move more and we've emphasised we're willing to talk about very sizable cuts [in subsidies] if we get [more] market access."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.