Understandable misgivings. Trade developments were not completely left out by the G20 but they did remain in the shade compared to financial and economic issues. This column will return to the results of the latter two areas, which are discussed at length in the following pages. The trade aspect, left out in Toronto, warrants a few comments. In their final joint declaration, the two presidents of the Community institutions, Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, expressed a wish that progress with the Doha Round is made and asserted that trade can help growth, without incurring tax increases or other charges to consumers. Nonetheless, it is obviously necessary to point out that current conditions do not favour the unlimited development of global free trade.
The expansion of trade has been a symbol of global economic progress for years and trade has developed at a pace significantly higher than production and other indicators. I do not believe that this model is, a priori, a bad one. Throughout history, different civilisations have not all brought humanity the same discoveries: it is a trade in products and knowledge that has opened up the possibility of benefiting from the progress of others: the wheel, silk, paper, the internal combustion engine, electricity and so forth. Current misgivings are not caused by expansion in trade but rather the abuses, excesses and distortions. Counterfeit products do not have the quality and characteristics of the original, such as false medicines, food products and so on and so forth. If these scourges are not efficiently combated and eliminated, distrust of total free trade will continue to grow.
New demands. In addition to the old demands come new ones involving intellectual property, environmental protection, food quality, animal welfare and fair trade practices. Personally, I would add the right to food autonomy to the legitimate objectives for a continent or large areas - an indispensable condition for autonomy per se and therefore for freedom. Why return to this issue today? Because the difficulties we continue to encounter, as well as the conclusion of the multilateral Doha Round trade negotiations and certain bilateral EU trade agreements, will not be overcome without taking the demands mentioned above into consideration. Previously, misgivings were voiced by economic sectors directly affected: car manufacturers oppose the total opening up of the European market to Korean carmakers, which use duty-free Chinese spare parts; farmers, who believe they are discriminated against because they are subject to quality and animal welfare obligations that do not apply to producers in other continents. These complaints are not always justified and in several cases producers are mainly interested in avoiding competition and protecting their market position - we need to remain alert. Nonetheless, we cannot ignore a significant new development: calls for caution and criticism are shared by the European Parliament.
For a level playing field. It would be too simplistic to include the term protectionism in these positions. It would be preferable and more truthful to talk about finding a level playing field where the quality of products, respect for nature and fair trade would be duly taken into consideration. Free trade is not being questioned, its expansion slowed down and even contracted last year but has grown again, and it previously grew at a rate that was significantly higher than that of economic growth. It is obviously crucial that the EU respects balance, but does not ignore its status as a large exporter: we cannot call for the opening up of everybody else's borders and close our own. Nevertheless, the opposite position should also be opposed: increasingly opening up the EU's borders and agreeing that the others, including giants like Brazil and India, do not open up to European products. Respect for the rules of the game must be significantly reinforced: certain observations and data confirm the existence of abuse and fraud at unsustainable levels, the culprits of which are not only those identified in certain non-EU export countries but also within European organised crime.
The rather timid call from the G20 in Toronto will have no impact without fair trade being re-established. This column will return to this issue tomorrow.
(F.R./transl.fl)