Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-12-Speech-1-064-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110912.20.1-064-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, Commissioner De Gucht, I would like to wish you the best of luck in Geneva and for the remaining negotiations. You confirmed Europe’s commitment to the multilateral trade negotiations, to the World Trade Organisation and to the Doha Round. After all, even though we may have an ambitious programme for bilateral free trade negotiations, we all know that it is only the multilateral, global agreements that can provide the growth and free trade that we know we need.
It is rather tiresome to have these debates on the Doha Round over and over again. I have been in the European Parliament for seven years and debates and discussions on the Doha Round have come up time and again. There are always new hopes and new disappointments – it would be easy to give up, but the Doha Round is too important for us to let it go.
The Doha Round was launched straight after the dreadful terrorist attacks on 11 September 10 years ago. I have to say that this is one of the few really good responses to the horrors that happened at that time – a response that is about global cooperation and bringing prosperity to the world’s poor. It is no less important now than it was then.
On the one hand, we could say that the Doha Round is more important than ever now with the debt crisis pervading both Europe and the US. We can expect lower rates of growth, perhaps even a recession, in large parts of the world. We know that it will affect Europe. However, the world’s poor will be hardest hit. It is therefore more important than ever to ensure that we do something to give the global economy a real boost.
On the other hand, the Doha Round is a little out of date. It concerns duties, and it mainly concerns agriculture and to a minor extent industrial goods. At the same time, we all know that the economy is characterised today by services, by the digital economy and not by peripheral barriers to trade. It is therefore important to bring this to a conclusion. It is important for people’s confidence in the global trade system and in the WTO and a global regulatory framework, but it is also important in order to enable us to deal with future challenges – new trade regulations for a new economy – an economy that is digital in nature and characterised by services. Everyone will benefit from an agreement. It would be the single most important and best boost for new growth throughout the world. However, this requires leadership – courageous political leadership. Here in the European Parliament, we do not expect anything else of the Commission and of Commissioner De Gucht than to simply have the courage to demonstrate this leadership in the negotiations. We need more free trade in the world, not less, in times of crisis."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples