Brussels, 16/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday at the end of the afternoon, the President of the European Commission said the, "failure of the WTO Cancun Ministerial meeting is a serious disappointment for all and a severe blow for the World Trade Organisation". Romano Prodi stated, " t would be useless to try and blame anyone for the outcome for we are all equally responsible - and we all loose if we allow the Doha Development Round to fail". Together with Commissioners Franz Fischler and Pascal Lamy (see EUEOPE yesterday pp 13 & 14), he considers that, "The European Union has made its best to contribute to a compromise, notably to meet the demands of developing countries". He also asserted that the European Union had to stick to its proposals, "which will benefit developing countries and to the overall development goal". He affirmed that, "We must not lose heart" and that, "we should, however. consider ways to make the WTO function more effectively. What is evident is that the organisation couldn't support the weight of the task it was given". Mr Prodi concluded that the EU, "continue(d) working towards the end in the spirit of a strong rules-based multilateral trading system".
In a "personal capacity" the opinion of Mr Prodi was shared by Pascal Lamy who on his return from Mexico, indicated to the press on Tuesday in Brussels that following the failure of the Ministerial meeting, he had, nevertheless, to attempt, as a negotiator for the Fifteen, to take into account the views of his constituents on maintaining the option of multilateralism. He declared that they would be reflecting on things together to see if they should keep multilateralism as their priority. Mr Lamy indicated that in his personal view, he "deeply believed" that this ought to remain a priority but in the current circumstances it would be necessary to check that everyone agreed with this view. He stated that dialogue should take place at the College but also with the European Parliament and Member States. The Commissioner underlined that the USA could now say to itself that, "if multilateralism does not work, we're big and strong enough to obtain more from bilateralism". Mr Lamy warned, however, that the long experience of the EU in bilateral negotiations indicated that the latter would "not be much easier" and would be "easier to launch than conclude". He also considered that the issue of maintaining current methods of work at the WTO was a question that needed posing. "Should they be kept"? He asked, explaining that, "We will probably have to come up with some proposals on this point even if we have been obliged over recent years to do it to avoid overloading the boat". He indicated, "in the meantime, it will be necessary to preserve the acquis and apply them". He noted that existing multilateral rules on trade had already enabled the economic balance of forces to be transformed into a balance of rights. Mr Lamy said once again that he was convinced that the development programmed "did not die" at Cancun but was in "intensive care, in other words between life and death".
MEPs from the EPP-ED group in Cancun were also disappointed, who in a press statement released on Monday criticised the "blow to multilateralism that could have been avoided". Vice President of the EPP-ED, Ilkka Suominen for Finland declared, "The EU made a tremendous effort to make the conference a success but too many countries preferred to block any decision on strengthening international trade for purely domestic reasons". Describing the negotiations as a "power game", the EPP-ED regretted that emerging countries, such as Brazil, India, China and Indonesia had refused any debate on the so-called Singapore subjects, whereas at Doha, a discussion on them had been planned at the Mexican beach resort. EPP-ED MEPs underline the missed opportunity of reaching an agreement on agriculture where "a compromise seemed achievable" and concluded that, "Many developing countries will continue to face trade obstacles to their exports". The group, nevertheless, is calling for continued efforts from WTO countries to conclude the Doha trade round and reject the temptation of bilateralism, "Bilateralism means that the economically and politically stronger partners sets the rules". Mr Suominen also stressed that his members, "regret that obviously a lack of preparation meant an insurmountable obstacle for many developing countries to enter into negotiations". He also considers that the advice given to these countries by certain European NGOs, often supported by political movements of the left, to fight against including these Singapore themes in the negotiations.
The Socialists also regretted the failure at Cancun, although agreements appeared to be possible in several areas. In a press statement, the parliamentary group of the Party of European Socialists (PES), emphasised that this failure, "is a negative signal for an already fragile economy" and that this was, "bad news for European workers but even worse news for those in developing countries". the Head of the PES negotiating group at Cancun, Max van den Berg from the Netherlands particularly criticised the fact that no agreement was obtained on the suppression of US subsidies of USD 3.5 billion in the cotton sector believing that "a good and timely offer from the Americans on this would have created a positive dynamic which could have saved the summit".
The British Glenys Kinnock, Vice-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, took note of the "confidence" shown in Cancun by the developing countries, seeing this as "the sign of an emerging new and fairer world order". She also thought that if there was a lesson to be learnt from Cancun, it is that the WTO must change the way it works, and the EU must take the initiative in proposing this reform. The German Erika Mann stressed the necessity of creating a WTO Parliamentary committee to lend the Organisation a democratic dimension.
Lastly, speaking for the Parliamentary group United European Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), the Frenchman Francis Wurtz said (which is likely to grab attention just after Cancun), "first of all it is the perversity and cynicism of the logic of 'quid pro quo' between the mastodons of world trade and countries which are fighting to survive; then it is what I would call the return of the south and those in it looking for promising new means of resistance, with the support of the anti-globalisation movement; and lastly it is the historical failing of the EU in having gone along with the arrogance of the United States, instead of forging a strategic alliance with the myriad countries calling for a new order in world trade, which puts the development of human capacity and the protection of the environment before the unyielding laws of free trade".