Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-192"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20081008.22.3-192"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, I presume you had expected to see Commissioner Mandelson here tonight, but as you probably know he left the Commission, and I won the lottery to take over from Mr Mandelson here tonight. Having been directly involved in the negotiations in Geneva at the WTO with responsibility for the agricultural sector, I am however happy to be here with you tonight.
As normal, we will maintain strong dialogue with Parliament and we will of course hope for your continued support on this issue.
While the negotiations in Geneva in July did not succeed, the Doha Round has not been suspended. On the contrary, it has actually been kept active, even over the past few weeks, and it is our intention to contribute constructively to this activity in order to facilitate full ministerial resumption in due course, once the necessary technical analyses now being undertaken by key countries on the remaining problematic issues have been completed.
The negotiations that took place in July delivered some real progress. The emerging package outlined a possible balanced outcome which respected the European Union’s key requirements in agriculture while delivering valuable benefits for our industrial manufacturers.
A broad outline of the agreement has emerged on different key issues, including the overall reduction in trade-distorting domestic support in the agricultural sector, the scope that developed and developing countries would retain to shield a limited number of sensitive and special products from tariff cuts, the Swiss formula used to determine tariff cuts for industrial products, and the flexibility to be made available to developing countries to shield a number of industrial products from those cuts. In the assessment made by the Commission, this package contains real value for European business and consumers and would ensure an international legal framework for agriculture fully in line with the 2003 reform. In our opinion, the emerging package also contains real development value for the poorest countries in the world.
A Round concluded on this basis would reduce world tariffs by half and, while developing countries would contribute one-third of the savings, they would benefit from two-thirds of the increased market access. It would also ensure that OECD economies join Europe’s initiative in providing least developed countries with duty free and quota free access to their markets – what we normally call our ‘everything but arms’ initiative.
We would also have succeeded in locking in real farm reform in the United States. With an agreement, the United States would have had to reduce their trade-distorting domestic support or subsidies to USD 14.5 billion. Without it, subsidies can now go up to USD 48 billion under the new farm bill. It would also serve our interests to get permanent international legal protection of our reformed common agricultural policy.
A deal on this basis would turn the emerging countries into custodians of the multilateral trading system which needs to be preserved but also to be strengthened. We would anchor them more firmly into the rule-based system of global trade which is essential for the future.
It was therefore a disappointment that it proved impossible to close the discussions on the Doha modalities in July because of continuing disagreement on a very specific point in the agricultural field. The difficulties arose over the issue of special agricultural safeguards for developing countries, the so-called SSM, essentially within the G7 grouping. India and China were unable to agree with the United States over the triggers and the remedies to be put in place for this safeguard when it is used to breach pre-Doha-Round rates.
Since early September, contacts have been taking place at senior official level to try to resolve this continuing difference of views, but we have not yet been successful on this issue. Though the European Union remains firmly committed and engaged, it is actually unclear how far discussions will pick up in the coming weeks."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples