Rome, 15/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Members of the joint ACP/EU parliamentary assembly have analysed the failure in Rome of the Ministerial WTO conference in Cancun in order to learn some lessons. Although they attribute this failure to different causes, the assembly was unanimous in considering that everyone was a loser and sought the relaunch of multilateral negotiations as soon as possible. Nevertheless, the resolution expected to take up the decisions at Cancun and the negotiations for economic partnership agreements (EPA) between the EU and regional integrated entities of the ACP was not adopted as the EPP-ED and Liberal groups voted against during a separate ACP and European vote (requested by the latter). The EPP-ED think that the stumbling block was the amendment by the Greens-EFA which called for the withdrawal of the Singapore Questions from the Doha programme. This unexpected turn of events even surprised the two Co-Presidents of the APP, "as the compromise resolution and its amendments were supported by unanimity of all parties", explained Glennys Kinnock, co-president of the EU, to the press. Adrien Houngbedji co-president of the ACP said that it was only partly resolved, "a s we have already learned some lessons from Cancun for he APE negotiations that have just been launched between the Union, west Africa on the one hand and Central Africa on the other".
The compromise resolution demanded emergency measures for allowing the relaunch of negotiations that continue to deal with question of development, which are at the centre of the Doha work programme. The resolution noted that the Cancun failure would present risks to multilateralism and could be replaced by a multitude of bilateral agreements that would benefit developed countries: it is therefore welcoming the will of the EU to work towards reinforcing the multilateral framework. According to the draft, the current impasse at the WTO risks depriving the EPA of the necessary orientation for ensuring compatibility of these agreement with WTO rules (and this goes for ACP/EU negotiations that could be finished before those of the Doha round) The APP is calling for clarification and improvement of the existing WTO rules on regional trade agreements, in order to guarantee sufficient flexibility for developing countries which are party to them. Asserting the importance of the basic products (cotton, sugar, rice, bananas and coffee for the ACP economies, the draft is calling for agricultural negotiations to begin again as soon as possible and that they focus on export subsidies and internal support measures for developed countries while preserving existing preferential agreements. It is specifically requesting that a lasting solution is found to the problems of the ACP cotton producer countries, of which West and Central African countries are first in line. The AP considers that Singapore Questions should not be among the priorities (but not disappear) from the Doha work programme. The APP is underling that the EPA should allow ACP countries to take part in competitive production of marketable goods and services on an international scale.
Introducing the debate, Jacob Nkate, Trade and Industry Minister for Botswana and spokesperson for the ACP group at Cancun said that the failure was due to insufficient progress before the conference on essential questions (agricultural issues, the problem of implementation resulting from the Uruguay Round, the special and differentiated treatment for developing countries), as well as on the absence of an agreement on Singapore questions "which were not priorities for the ACP". He described the "major setback" of the lack of progress on reducing agricultural subsidies for exports and dismantling of tariffs from rich countries and criticised the "lost opportunity" t sort our the issue of subsidies for cotton from the USA, EU and China. He declared that "It is too early to judge the consequences of the failure but this has shown that in order to finish, negotiations have to focus on questions of interest to members of the WTO". Welcoming the increasingly proactive role of developing countries and the participation for the first time of ACP parliamentarians at the Cancun Ministerial, he appealed for the mutual concessions approach to be revised as "LDCs have already been subject to and conceded too much during the Uruguay Round".
Although he considers that the EU and the United States have a driving role to play in order to reactivate negotiations as quickly as possible, he assured that the ACP States are also ready to assume their responsibilities. ACP Trade Ministers will meet end November in Brussels and hope to have consultation with the Union.
Adolfo Urso, EU Council President, stressed that the failure of the talks in Cancun should encourage reflection, and the EU has begun just that. In Mr Urso's view, failure is partly due to the excessive radicalisation of positions due to the creation of thematic interest groups which means greater clarity of work but which makes one lose sight of the overall picture. Knots have become bottlenecks, he said, adding that agricultural policy has become too limited and the Singapore issues have entailed failure at Cancun. Taking up the picture drawn by Commissioner Pascal Lamy on the medieval nature of the WTO, he added: "we think that, after the Middle Ages, there is a renaissance possible for the WTO as long as the structures and the rules for the operation of this tower of Babel of fragmented interests on the many agendas are revised". Speaking of the "cultural exception" introduced by Europeans for their farming sector, he went on to say that, in Cancun, an MEP remarked that the cotton initiative had taken on ethical and political dimensions. He said they did not understand it in good time and that, if they had given a positive answer, with the guarantee that this would not create a precedent, then they would no doubt have made progress. He said that two questions are raised today: 1) Can one resume the development programme? 2) Should the Union review its trading policy to conclude more bilateral agreements like the United States? "We shall discuss it", he said.
Abubakar B Awa Bawarie, parliamentarian from Nigeria, felt that the EPAs offer a complement to the ACP/EU partnership and an alternative to multilateralism. "We are willing to conclude free trade agreements with the EU in due course. We know that, if the EPAs are compatible with the rules of the WTO, the Union will plead our cause", he said. Georges Rawiri, President of the Gabonese Senate, added: "We believe that it is necessary to keep the multilateral framework (…). We hope to be informed of the results of the meeting of the WTO General Council in December". Mothetjoa Mestsing (Lesotho) attributed the failure of Cancun to the different way that the EU and the developing countries see CAP reform. The developing countries are sceptical that it will only have a marginal impact on the level of production in Europe and will increase its export competitiveness. Considering that the EU did not go to Cancun with the clear intention of reaching an agreement on farm issues, he warned the EU against the attempt to gain in the EPAs what it did not manage to gain in multinational negotiations. Konrad Schwaiger (CDU) declared: "we are in favour of multilateralism which wants a single rule for all, but there must be exceptions for those who need it". He recalled that the EU offer in Cancun was not negligible and presented its merits with a 45% reduction in farm export subsidies and a 40% reduction in customs duties. He said he was convinced that the negotiation of EPAs with two regions of Africa would allow results that can be transposed to all ACP countries. "After Cancun, negotiation of EPAs is a test of the capacity of EPAs and of the EU not to accumulate failures", he added. As soon as the session opened, Margherita Boniver, Italian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, stressed that the Council shared the Commission's analysis, whereby the failure of Cancun is a severe snub of the WTO and a lost opportunity for all. "We are at the beginning of a reflection and analysis process to seek to identify the best way to move forward. We shall remain convinced that growing liberalisation of world trade, accompanied by development cooperation activities, can play a vital role in achieving the millennium's development goals", she had said. ACP Council President Mompati Merafhe, Foreign Minister of Botswana had urged for strengthened dialogue between the ACP and EU countries to face up to the dangers of unilateralism in international policy and to the challenges of EU enlargement. Regarding EPA negotiations, he had stressed that they would be complex, as even the two African regions able to engage in them did not agree with the Union on the negotiation roadmap. "Our aim is sustainable development. The EPAs are not an end in themselves", he had recalled.
In his speech, Poul Nielson, Development Commissioner, had recalled that the EPAs will be a flexible and asymmetrical instrument to the benefit of the ACP countries, not only concerning the range of products covered by trade liberalisation but also the transitional periods for customs dismantling. "We have good reasons to look toward the future with confidence since we have begun to negotiate with Central and Western Africa", he had said. Speaking before the press, he had explained his optimism in the following terms: "after the Cancun hangover, the beginning of the talks on EPAs gives the ACP and EU countries the opportunity to consolidate and better understand their respective expectancies, and to strengthen their partnership. Derogation to the rules of the WTO enjoyed by the Cotonou Agreement expires in 2008. We therefore have years before us to work and agree on final arrangements for EPAs".