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EU rejects latest WTO farm trade reform plan (Thursday, March 20, 2003 -- CropChoice news) --Two stories here on the WTO and agriculture.
2. EU rejects latest WTO farm trade reform plan
(Thursday, March 20, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- By Aine Gallagher:
BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - The European Union rejected a revised
proposal to cut international farm trade barriers on Wednesday, adding to
criticism already heard from Japan.
Trade nations are counting down to a March 31 deadline to agree ways to
negotiate liberalising the $550 billion world trade in agriculture products
as part of global commerce talks due to end by 2005.
"We do not see this draft as bringing the WTO members closer. Harbinson 2
is largely identical to the first draft. Severe imbalances remain,"
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and Farm Commissioner Franz
Fischler said in a statement.
The EU criticised the original draft by WTO chief agriculture mediator
Stuart Harbinson when it was issued last month.
It said the paper was unbalanced in its call for export subsidies to be
eliminated and import tariffs slashed -- as it went much further than
proposals by the EU itself.
In the new paper, there was little mention of two key EU demands -- to put
limits on money spent on export credits and food aid, two strategies the EU
says are used by the United States to dump surplus output on world markets.
Harbinson made few concessions in his revised version of the reform plan,
blaming WTO member states for failing to come up with sufficient compromise
suggestions.
France's Farm Minister Herve Gaymard, backed by Foreign Trade Minister
Francois Loos, issued a similarly worded joint statement on the latest farm
paper from the WTO.
"The new proposal...very little altered compared with the previous one,
does not constitute an acceptable basis to engage in negotiations," the
statement said.
DEADLINE LOOMS
Japan's farm ministry said earlier: "The contents (of the new draft) are
especially advantageous to certain exporting countries, so we cannot accept
it in its entirety."
The arguments continue despite comments last week by key WTO official
Carlos Perez del Castillo that the end-March farm talks deadline was
virtually certain to be missed.
The first Harbinson blueprint ran into heavy criticism for either going too
far in freeing up trade or not going far enough. The revised draft calls
for export subsidies to be eliminated in two phases over five and nine years.
Harbinson's plan for cuts in import tariffs would see the sharpest
reductions where duties are highest, something demanded by large exporting
countries -- but he did not include their call for ceilings to be set.
Harbinson presented his second draft ahead of talks due to start next
Tuesday in Geneva.
EU officials have said missing the end-March deadline was not the end of
the world.
Diplomats have said failure to stick to the timetable would be a heavy blow
and might jeopardise the proposed September date for trade ministers to
meet in the Mexican resort town of Cancun.
2. WTO Ag Chief - not enough common ground
By NAOMI KOPPEL, Associated Press Writer: GENEVA - The man leading negotiations on reducing barriers to
international trade in agriculture said Tuesday he cannot produce a new
proposal on how to go forward because the differences between countries
are too great.
In a note to the 145 members of the World Trade Organization (news -
web sites), Stuart Harbinson said that he had received "insufficient
collective guidance" and that "positions in key areas remained far
apart."
The WTO has given itself until the end of this month to agree on the
document, which is supposed to form the blueprint for the agriculture
agreement, which is seen by many as the key to a wider round of trade
liberalization negotiations.
Harbinson's first proposal last month tried to find common ground
between members but was roundly criticized by almost all countries.
While some nations mostly large, agricultural exporting countries
like Australia, the United States and Brazil said Harbinson's
proposal did not go far enough, importers like the European Union (news
- web sites) and Japan said it was too ambitious.
Harbinson, who chairs the WTO committee negotiating on agriculture, had
agreed to produce a second proposal in time for seven days of talks
starting March 25. But he acknowledged the document he published
Tuesday made only minor changes in a limited number of areas and more
talks between countries was needed.
"Readiness on all sides to engage in serious negotiations aimed at
finding solutions that can attract broad-based support will be of the
essence," he said.
Harbinson's proposal calls for import tariffs on agricultural goods to
be cut by up to 60 percent a figure considered much too high by
countries like Japan that use tariffs to protect sensitive products
like rice, and by some developing countries who say they need the
income from the duties and have to use the system or risk ruining their
domestic producers.
It also proposes the elimination of all subsidies linked to exports
within nine years and drastic cuts to other subsidies. The European
Union, which devotes nearly half its entire budget to supporting
farmers, says the cuts are too large. It says the payments are needed
to ensure self-sufficiency, protect the rural environment and ensure
animal welfare standards demanded by European consumers.
But the 18-nation agricultural exporting Cairns Group and the United
States say the subsidies and high import duties make it impossible for
their farmers to compete internationally, even if they are more
efficient producers.
Last week, the chairman of the WTO General Council, Carlos Perez del
Castillo of Uruguay, was the first senior WTO diplomat to acknowledge
that it is unlikely that differences can be bridged before the March 31
deadline.
If agriculture discussions overrun, that could slow the progress in the
WTO's other areas of negotiation, such as trade in manufactured goods
and trade in services like banking and telecommunications. | |
