Following the failure of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancun and after two months of intense consultations with EU Member States, the European Parliament and all European stakeholders, the European Commission has adopted a strategy paper aimed at contributing to the re-launch of the Doha talks.
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The Commissions said the input it had received had led it to conclude that the fundamental objectives of the EU in these negotiations remain valid: a clear preference for a multilateral trade system, a strong rules-making component alongside market access and the need to ensure that the negotiations do deliver a development round.
However, to take into account what has happened in Cancun and since, the paper recommends a revised strategy to achieve EU objectives, in the form of a refreshed and updated negotiating position in several areas. This paper will now be discussed with EU member states and the European Parliament.
“After the failure in Cancun, it was clear that “business as usual” was not an option. We needed to have a deep look into what went wrong in Cancun and draw the necessary conclusions. We have listened carefully to all points of view inside and outside Europe, and we believe there is now enough support to get the train back on track. Indeed, the very strong feeling inside the Commission is that the multilateral system should be the EU’s priority number one to harness globalisation, to deliver on EU objectives, and to secure a real development round,” EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said.
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