Brussels, 25/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Trade, Pascal Lamy, has described himself as optimistic on the prospects of reaching agreement on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) by the end of July. "Trade talks are like volcanoes, with three modes: sleeping, smoking and erupting. The last few weeks have convinced me that the Round is now smoking rather actively, and the stage is set for a decent eruption in July", he said in a speech in Geneva on Tuesday, at the WTO's annual symposium.
By presenting its new offer two weeks ago (proposing, amongst other things, to abolish export subsidies on agricultural products), "the Union has done its bit to regenerate momentum", but now the other partners will have to do the same, insisted Mr Lamy. "To put it bluntly, we have listened, and moved: and now we need others to do the same", said Mr Lamy. In particular, he put pressure on the United States: they must modify their "Farm Bill" to bring it into line with EU demands, with a view to the "substantial reduction" of domestic farm subsidies, if they want the Round to move on. Until now, the Commission's new offer has been generally well-received, "except for some flak from within my own camp, but mercifully trade questions within the EU are decided by qualified majority voting, and I have that", he said.