At the meeting of the Council of the EU on Tuesday 9 June, the trade ministers of the EU Member States will need to demonstrate their ability to reach agreement if they do not want to miss the opportunity to create a coordinated European strategy to replace the Director-General of the WTO.
Two subjects will dominate the agenda at this new videoconference meeting: the ongoing discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the consequences of the pandemic for the Union's trade policy.
WTO
Nominations for candidates to replace Roberto Azevêdo, the organisation's Brazilian Director-General before 1 September have been open since Monday 8 June and will remain open for one month. The EU27 need to agree on a common strategy in order to support their preferred candidate (see EUROPE 12496/5). As this appointment will be subject to a fast-track procedure at the WTO, ministers will be under pressure to agree as soon as possible on a process for nominating the person they consider the most suitable to carry out reform of the WTO (see EUROPE 12497/16).
Ministers will also discuss elements of a coordinated multilateral response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the light of the disruption that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused to the multilateral trade system. The EU is supporting the General Secretariat of the Council in its efforts to ensure transparency and provide notice of the measures taken in response to the crisis.
The Commission is therefore expected to present Member States with its proposal for a plurilateral agreement on medicinal products, which it intends to pursue with the WTO (see EUROPE 12500/8).
Trade policy review
Ministers will continue their discussion on the lessons of the health crisis for European trade policy, particularly the role of global supply chains in the recovery (see EUROPE 12498/25, 12496/22, 12494/7).
This exercise is part of the review of a policy that is unpopular with large numbers of EU citizens (see EUROPE 12495/16, 12499/10, 12480/14). According to the Council’s services, the review is expected to enable “the continuity of the international flow of goods and services to be guaranteed and work towards reform of the WTO to be undertaken”. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)