13/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Member states support De Gucht's plans to reform GSP. European trade ministers, meeting in Brussels on 13 May, gave their support to the broad thrust of the plan to reform the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), presented by the European Commission on 10 May, said Hungarian minister János Martonyi after the meeting. Time has come for a complete overhaul, so that preferences can be given to those who really need them, he said. He added that the world had changed, and a great many developing countries had become emerging economies, far richer than they had been previously. World balance has shifted, stated Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, adding that more emphasis had to be placed on the least developed countries. De Gucht would like to see the list of 176 countries which currently enjoy EU trade preferences reduced by half, with, notably, the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - being removed from the GSP. (E.H./transl.rt)