Brussels, 11/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, José Manuel Barroso told the press what he expected to come out of the G8 Summit this weekend in Saint Petersbourg (15-17 July). He will be attending the summit in his capacity as president of the European Commission, together with the president-in-office of the European Council, Matti Vanhanen. “There are two essential messages that I would send to the G8 in Saint Petersbourg. In the energy sector (which will be the main subject of discussion, see also EUROPE 9229), we must create a climate that promotes the free movement of both investment and supplies. The G8 must agree on a series of principles that will lay the foundations for a reliable, affordable and sustainable energy system. Our second priority is to keep Africa in the limelight. Thanks to the Gleneagles commitments (Ed.: G8 Summit in July 2005), there is a real hope of putting an end to poverty in Africa. However, all G8 partners must step up implementation of these commitments to bring about a lasting change”, Mr Barroso said (see also EUROPE 9229).
Energy supply security. The Commission trusts that the G8 leaders will agree on a series of global principles relating to energy security, covering all the players in the energy chain in producer, consumer and transit countries. “We hope the G8 will make a clear statement on market principles, namely transparency, reciprocity and opening” of markets and networks, Mr Barroso explained. The conclusions of the G8 Summits are not legally binding (it is not a body empowered to take formal decisions) “but we hope a political compromise will be reached at the highest level on these principles that may then be translated into legal commitments by introducing them into specific agreements”, Mr Barroso explained. Preparatory work of the summit, carried out at Sherpa level, is “encouraging” but there is still no agreement on all these principles, the Commission president said. Still under the energy chapter, Mr Barroso expects the summit to place special emphasis on the importance of good diversification of supply and demand for energy sources, countries of origin, transport and means of transport. In this context, the debate on the future of nuclear energy is “inevitable” and, in the eyes of the Commission, “pointless”, although the EU Member States are divided on this subject, he said. The Commission also trusts that he Summit will commit itself in favour of large scale use of renewable energies and increased investment in innovative energy technology. Energy efficiency must also be promoted as this is the “most affordable solution” in environmental terms, Mr Barroso said. When it comes to climate change, the Commission expects that the leaders of the G8 will at least confirm their resolve to comply with the commitments taken at Gleneagles to attain the objectives set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In a “carte blanche” published on Tuesday in Le Figaro, Mr Barroso said oil and gas prices have almost doubled in Europe over the past two years and that, according to forecasts, Europe's dependence on imports should reach 70% by the year 2030. The whole of the world's energy chain is in a situation of under-investment: more than €16,000 billion are needed in the next twenty years to meet the demand and replace old infrastructures, the Commission president writes.
Africa. “The European Union is determined to keep Africa at the fore of the political scene” and hopes to speed up the rate of implementation of its commitments taken at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005: full debt cancellation for 18 African countries, additional aid of $15 billion in favour of developing countries and the commitment to work on subsidy reduction and a reduction of trade barriers and tariffs in the industrialised countries. The African leaders pledged in exchange to set measures in place to promote democracy and good governance. The EU, for its part, “is keeping to its promises” made in Gleneagles, Mr Barroso said on Tuesday. “We have not only kept to our commitment to devote 0.39% of the EU's GNI to development aid in 2006, but we shall no doubt go further by devoting 0.42% of GNI to aid this year”, he added. Also on the subject of governance, the EU hopes to go further than the Gleneagles commitments and double aid by 2010. The Commission suggested on Tuesday that a new incentive allocation of €3 billion should be created to complete the initial allocations in this field, Barroso announced, writing a letter to President Putin on Tuesday to inform him of this.
Fight against infectious diseases, and education: Mr Barroso recalled that the Commission's priority is to promote a sound development programme by stepping up the fight against diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and also by adopting new forms of cooperation in education between developed and developing countries. Given the Commission's responsibilities for preventing and managing avian flu, the Commission calls on G8 leaders to press forward in the field of international cooperation and coordination for the prevention and management of avian influenza and human flu pandemics, Mr Barroso said. On the subject of education, it is vital for the G8 to support the impetus given at Gleneagles with regard to Africa, and its commitments in favour of the Education for All initiative, in order to speed up progress to attain the Millennium Development Goals, the Commission president said.
Doha Trade Round. The state of progress in trade talks at the WTO is obviously not on the formal agenda of the summit (Russia, the host country, is not even a member of the WTO), but the question of trade and development, as well as the Doha Round of trade talks, will most certainly be evoked during the bilateral meetings, all the more as the leaders of five other powers (China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico) will join their counterparts of the G8 for a joint meeting at the end of the summit, on 17 July. Mr Barroso said on Tuesday that he expected a “strong signal on the importance and urgency of a successful Doha round” to come out of the summit and bilateral meetings, especially to the benefit of the developing countries as the “development aspect” is all important. “It is not just a trade round”, he said. He also hoped there would be a “positive movement” on the part of the United States on the issue of domestic farm subsidies.