URFIG-supported Document about WTO-EU
Call for the European Union to withdraw its proposal
for
a new and
in
the
(June
14, 2001)
Despite continued and vocal
opposition from governments and people around the world, the European Union (EU)
continues to call for the establishment of a new and comprehensive round of
trade negotiations at the next World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial in
Qatar, in November 2001.
The EU's proposal remains
virtually unchanged since the WTO's last Ministerial in Seattle, in December
1999, when it contributed to the collapse of negotiations due to unprecedented
opposition from developing countries and civil society groups. The same tensions
could cause the collapse of the Qatar Ministerial.
The EU intends to bring a
broad range of 'new issues' – including investment, competition and government
procurement - to the negotiating table. Many developing countries are opposed to
this position, on the grounds that - far from being a 'development round', as
suggested by Clare Short, the UK's Secretary of State for International
Development - this agenda ignores their concerns and threatens to undermine
their development needs (1).
During the Seattle
Ministerial, nearly 1500 citizens' groups and social movements from 89 developed
and developing countries also opposed the EU's new round agenda on the basis
that it would have severe social, economic and environmental impacts (2). These
concerns remain but appear to have been ignored (3).
The undersigned support a
multilateral trading system that is democratic, equitable, sustainable and in
harmony with the requirements of local and regional economies. However, the WTO,
with the active support of the EU and the WTO Secretariat - notably EU Trade
Commissioner Pascal Lamy and WTO Director General Mike Moore – are promoting a
different agenda, that of corporate globalisation. Instead of recognising and
addressing the social, economic and environmental problems associated with
existing WTO agreements, they are pushing for further trade liberalisation in
the areas of services, investment, competition and government procurement,
largely at the behest of and in the interest of transnational corporations based
primarily in the EU and the United States.
The EU should withdraw its
proposal for a new and comprehensive round. A new round is not inevitable.
Furthermore, mandated negotiations already underway (concerning intellectual
property rights and the further liberalisation of trade in services and
agriculture) are already sufficiently controversial, having the potential to
have severe negative impacts on people, the environment and local economies in
both the North and the South.
Instead, the European Union
should take the lead in calling for fundamental change to the world's trading
system, in line with its own sustainable development and human rights
objectives. The EU should start by calling on WTO members to commission an
independent review of and then rectify the deficiencies of the world trade
system and the WTO itself. Such a review should address the WTO's impact on
marginalised communities, development, democracy, environment, health, human
rights, the rights of women and children and labour and consumers' rights. Such
a review should be conducted with civil society's full participation.
Review and rectification of
the current trade system is essential if society is to change course and develop
an alternative, humane and sustainable international system of trade and
investment relations.
___________________
(1) India, Malaysia and
Pakistan are the key countries leading developing country opposition to a new
round.
(2) See 'Statement from
Members of International Civil Society Opposing a Millennium Round or a New
Round of Comprehensive Trade Negotiations' at
www.foei.org/activist_guide/tradeweb/ngostat.htm
(3) 'See WTO - Shrink or
Sink! The Turn Around Agenda' at http://www.tradewatch.org/gattwto/ShrinkSink/shrinksink.htm 14 June 2001
Signatories :
Africa-Europe Faith and
Justice Network (AEFJN)
Alliance for Democracy
(Austin, Texas Chapter), USA
Alternative to EU-Finland
Amici della Terra, Italy
Amigos de la Tierra, Spain
Amis de la Terre, France
ANU/Tresam, Goteborg,
Sweden
Asia-Pacific Environmental
Exchange, Seattle, USA
Association Internationale
de Techniciens, Experts et Chercheurs (AITEC), France
Association Transnationale,
France
ATTAC-France
Awami Committee for
Development, Pakistan
Berne Declaration,
Switzerland
Blue 21 e.v., Berlin Working
Group on Environment and Development, Germany
BothENDS, the Netherlands
BUND, Friends of the Earth
Germany
Center for Economic Justice,
USA
Center for Encounter and
Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl, Austria
Congregation of the Sisters
of the Good Shepherd (international)
Consumers' Association of
Penang, Malaysia
Corporate Europe
Observatory, the Netherlands
Corpwatch, USA
Development Alternatives
with Women for a New Era (DAWN) (international)
Emmaus Bjorka, Sweden
EU-Critical Youth - Finland
Federasi Serikat Petani
Indonesia - FSPI
Focus on the Global South,
Thailand
Freedom for Animals,
Toronto, Canada
Friends of the Earth
(England, Wales and N Ireland)
Friends of the Earth Europe
Fundacion
Solon, Bolivia
Latinamerikakommitten,
Jonkoping, Sweden
Informationsgruppe
Lateinamerika (IGLA), Vienna, Austria
Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy, USA
International Coalition for
Development Action (international)
International NGO Forum on
Indonesian Development (INFID), Indonesia
International South Group
Network (ISGN) (international)
Institute for Relocalisation
of Economy, France
Maan ystavat ry, Friends of
the Earth, Finland
Milieudefensie, the
Netherlands
Miljofobundet Jordens
Vanner/Friends of the Earth, Sweden
Nea Ecologia-Friends of the
Earth, Greece
NOAH, Friends of the Earth
Denmark
Ohio Fair Trade Campaign,
USA
OXFAM GB
OXFAM Hong Kong
OXFAM International
OXFAM Ireland
OXFAM-Solidarity, Belgium
Sahabat Alam Malaysia
Solagral, France
S.P.I.R.A.L.S, Ireland
Strategic Development
Initiative (SDI), France
StopMAICoalition, Western
Australia
Tebtebba Foundation, the
Philippines
The Swallows, Association
for Voluntary Service, Bangladesh
Third World Network
(international)
Tourism Concern, UK
Unité de Recherche, de
Formation et d'Information sur la Globalisation (URFIG), Brussels-Paris-Geneva
UVB-Utbildning for
bistandsverksamhet, Sweden
Vic WTO Watch (Victoria,
Australia)
Werkgroep
Globalisering Delft-Den Haag, the Netherlands
World Development Movement,
Scotland
World Development Movement
Aberdeen Branch, Scotland
World Development Movement
Edinburgh Branch, Scotland
World Economy, Ecology and
Environment (WEED), Germany
XminusY Solidarity Fund, the
Netherlands