06/12/2019 (Agence Europe) – Stakeholders and European bodies are uneasy and concerned about the probably unavoidable prospect of the Appellate Body (AB) in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism being unable to function from 11 December. Following the adoption in plenary of the European Parliament resolution (see EUROPE 12379/16) and the hearing organised by the European Parliament Trade Committee on 3 December to assess potential ways forward in order to “save the WTO” it is the turn of BusinessEurope, the EU's largest employers' organisation, to sound the alarm. In a meeting with its national federations in Zagreb on 6 December, its president defended the multilateral organisation. “The WTO ensures... that countries around the world respect the rules of the game”, said WTO President, Pierre Gattaz. The paralysis in the AB threatens to collapse the entire system “in a moment when trade disputes are increasing”, he said. (HD)