Brussels, 22/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - France, which is not hiding it s opposition to the "unacceptable and unbalanced" draft paper published on Friday by the WTO (EUROPE 20 July p 8), is insisting that the Council of Ministers "plays a role" in the definition of the EU's final position that it is going to take next week at the General Council of the WTO. This decisive meeting, beginning on Tuesday 27 July in Geneva, has to, in principle, approve, before the end of next week, a framework agreement on the finalisation of the Doha round. In order to ensure that member countries keep control on the position the EU takes at this crucial moment in trade negotiations, France will request, on Monday, at the General Affairs Council, that the Article 133 Committee and the Council of EU Ministers meets in Geneva at any moment during negotiations next week to decide on a Union position. Council diplomats explain that it is in fact very probable that this flexible approach is retained on Monday, even more so, given that this system was already applied at the Cancun meeting. On Monday, Commissioner Pascal Lamy will provide ministers with a Commission assessment of the WTO draft (a basis on which to work) and it is possible that the Council and the Dutch presidency adopt conclusions in this regard.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the 147 members countries of the WTO held an initial discussion this week in Geneva on the draft agreement. According to the WTO, delegations gave the draft a "warm welcome, overall", "even if some expressed reservations, sometimes significant, on certain parts of the text". On agriculture, certain net importer countries of agricultural products criticised the scale of tariff reductions included in the text. They consider that protection of their sensitive products is therefore "inadequate". On the other hand, developing countries regard this protection as going too far. Other countries (including the EU) have requested more precision on many of the agricultural aspects. Cotton remains a controversial subject, several African counties are still requesting this issue to be treated separately. Market access for industrial goods: the debate this week focused on the question of whether the draft text for the Cancun meeting (annexed to the new draft) could still be considered as a common basis for negotiations. Rich countries have requested that services are given more priority in the agreement. A new informal meeting of ambassadors is expected for this Friday. This meeting could come out of the revised draft, which will be submitted to the General Council of the WTO on Tuesday.