Brussels, 16/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - As planned, Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner for Trade Policy, opened European reflection on Wednesday on "collective preferences", or the choice of society that must be taken considering the implementation of trade liberalisation. He did so by disseminating a basic document and by opening the conference organised on the theme: "Collective Preferences and Global Governance: What future for Multilateral Trading System?". The basic document stresses that the opening of borders, the growth factor and jobs for all also mean there is a "destabilising effect" for choices of society, something that the political decision-makers and trade negotiators must be fully aware of. It is "imperative to ensure that such opening does not lead to questioning legitimate collective choices" of a social or environmental or any other kind. He specifies that reflection on collective preferences must not be a condition for continuing WTO negotiations but that the two "must be carried out together" as they are both essential. The document will be published in full next week in our series EUROPE/Documents.
In his opening speech, Pascal Lamy stressed that Wednesday's conference was not aimed at reaching conclusions but rather at opening reflection with a view to making analysis of the problem available to those who come to it. By rejecting protectionism by taking a firm stance in favour of continued trade liberalisation, Mr Lamy pointed to a number of avenues for defining a reasonable balance between trade liberalisation and respect of the choices of society. Pascal Lamy's speech will be presented and commented on in our forthcoming bulletins.