Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-220"
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"en.20000614.9.3-220"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, it is not pleasant to play the role of someone who repeatedly asks the same questions. It is not, however, my fault, Commissioner, if there is a wishy-washy consensus in this Parliament. Nor must you count on my weariness to stop me hammering out evidence which, although on the face of it appears dogmatic, should be blatantly obvious to everyone: The WTO is a machine that should by switched off before it goes any further, instead of carrying on as if there were no problem apart from the stunning failure that was Seattle.
Now, what has happened since that abortive summit? New negotiations have started in Geneva, in a fug that is not dispelled straightaway by Mr Lamy’s praiseworthy speeches to this Parliament, and the European Union, hot on the heels of the United States, is negotiating the future conditions for China’s accession. Therefore, we have the right to ask a few questions.
What purpose do the WTO meetings serve if there is no difference between failure and success in the way internal business is conducted? What credibility can institutional reforms have, given that they are supposed to respond to major investigations, if, even before they are implemented, the path to imminent membership is open to a country which alone comprises one fifth of the world’s population? Furthermore, are you able to tell us how the European Union and its partners categorise China? Do you class it as a developing country or as something else? How do you see the astonishing upheaval in the balance within the organisation that uses this kind of approach to the situation? Finally, can you tell us what – if anything – the European Union is getting from the United States, as, according to statements by Mr Lamy, the negotiations undertaken with the Chinese have been based on what the Americans had already obtained, with increased benefit for the Europeans.
Commissioner, the quality of Mr Lamy’s work is not, of course, the issue here but, in spite of my repeated requests to see a proper assessment of the WTO carried out, these negotiations are going ahead without such an assessment having been made. I must say that it looks like we would not be able to undertake any action that might give the impression that doubts exist as to the benefits of liberalising world trade. I regret the fact that there was such little consultation with the Union’s Member States and the European Parliament which are, in the main, supporters not of the fine cause that is the World Trade Organisation, of which we too are part, but of that of the frantic development of global free-trade, to the detriment of our people’s essential interests."@en1
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