By Lewis Crofts - 20th November 2003
Brussels is poised to reveal its new-look trade policy after the acrimonious collapse of trade talks in Cancun in September.
Next week the European Commission will discuss how to relaunch the round of multilateral trade negotiations – known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) – which it has been accused of stalling with an excessively protectionist stance on agricultural products.
The new plan will be unveiled on December 2 and could feature a significant U-turn in policy on the so-called Singapore Issues – a system of four global investment rules – which many believe hijacked a successful conclusion of the trade liberalisation talks.
"Among the options which I have floated ... removing some of [the Singapore Issues] or all of them from the single undertaking is an option I am considering," said EU trade chief Pascal Lamy at a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva.
“My sense is that there are areas, for instance the Singapore issues, where we should show flexibility," Lamy told journalists.
The paper has been a long time in coming with the EU conducting extensive consultations among the member states before re-entering the diplomatic minefield of multilateralism.
Details are also scant of what form the paper will take, but one thing is certain: it will not be circulated to the other WTO members.
WTO insiders raised an eyebrow at the news, but the EU defended its decision claiming it was not a position paper to be submitted for official discussion when trade officials reconvene on December 15 in Geneva.
A commission official said the EU was not obliged to send its new mandate to the 147 other WTO members, but with the cloud of expectation hanging over the EU’s new trade position this paper has the power to make or break the continuation of talks.
The final declaration at Cancun called for “senior officials” to kick-start the talks in December, but Lamy is unlikely to attend and has cast a shadow over the Geneva talks asking after Cancun, “How can ambassadors in Geneva agree on something ministers haven’t agreed on in Cancun?”
Next week the commission will formulate a communication to European governments on the form of its new mandate which will also have to tackle the controversial area of cotton subsidies – a political hot-potato that the EU is currently juggling itself within the framework of Common Agricultural Policy reform.
Any relaxation of the EU's negotiation stance would have to be backed by all 15 EU governments as well as the European Parliament.
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