[autom.vertaling] "Tien ingrediënten om succes Cancun" te maken (en)
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Europe is going to Cancún with one clear objective:
We want to make the Doha Development Agenda a success.
In order to do so, we have to continue the reform of the rules for international farm trade, which was started in the Uruguay Round.
And I can promise that Europe will play ball.
We will not spoil the broth. But if we want to cook up something in Cancún which is wholesome and tasty enough for all the 146 WTO members, we need ten basic ingredients:
Ingredient number 1: Slash trade distorting domestic farm subsidies.
We already offered in February to deliver a huge cut in the so called amber box of trade distorting domestic support of 55%. And we have now, backed by our farm policy reform, moved even further in offering a major reduction in the less trade distorting "blue box" support. This goes far beyond the ambitions of the Uruguay Round.
Ingredient number 2: cut export subsidisation substantially.
The EU will go further and has offered to eliminate export subsidies on certain products of interest to developing countries and substantially reduce the rest. The only condition is that export credits, abuse of food aid or State Trading Enterprises used by our partners are equally disciplined.
Europe has already come a long way in the last ten years. The proportion of the CAP budget spent on refunds is down from 30% of the EU farm budget in 1993 to less than 9% in 2002. With the June 2003 reform package and the upcoming reforms of the sugar sector, the EU will be able to do even more.
Ingredient number three: Give developing countries a better deal.
- It is a fact that Europe already imports more from the developing countries than the US, Australia, Japan and Canada together.
- It is a fact that we are already a relatively open market in comparison to other developed countries, especially for developing country exports.
- It is a fact that we decided to grant completely quota free and duty free access for all farm products from the 49 poorest countries in the world.
But it is also a fact that we want to do more.
In our joint initiative with the US, a special safeguard is envisaged for developing countries to protect sensitive products from excessive imports. We also propose lower tariff cuts and longer implementation periods for these countries. In addition, the importance of existing and future preferential access for developing countries is recognised. Finally, there is a call for a firm commitment from developed countries to provide duty free access for a certain percentage of their imports from DCs.
Ingredient number four: do not reach for the stars in order to get the moon.
I know, trade talks are also about posturing and rhetoric. But one should not overdo it. If I look at the recent extreme proposal co-sponsored by Brazil, China, India and others, I cannot help the impression that they are circling in a different orbit. If they want to do business, they should come back to mother earth. If they choose to continue their space odyssey, the will not get the stars, they will not get the moon, they will simply end up with empty hands.
Their proposal is a record breaker: all reform and efforts are to be made by developed countries, hardly any by developing. This extremist approach is even less understandable if one considers that the average farm tariff in the EU is below 10%, while it is 30% in Brazil and 60% on average in developing countries and the income per head in several Member States of the enlarged EU will be considerably exceeded by a number of these developing countries.
Ingredient number five: Open your markets for agricultural imports.
Europe has offered to do so, according to a formula which shares the burden evenly among WTO members, with the exception of the least developed. This would bring the EU's tariff protection substantially down from an already low average of 10%.
Ingredient number six: Reform your farm policy only in one direction.
The EU has a consistent history of reforms which just point in one direction: less trade-distorsion. In the last decade, the EU has adopted three major farm reforms and there is more to come. On 23 September I will outline my ideas how to reform the sugar, olive oil, cotton and tobacco support system. While I can't give you details today, I can tell you that also for these sectors, I will go for more trade friendliness!
Ingredient number seven: Do not fall victim to cheap propaganda.
There are people throwing the ultimate argument at the EU. ,How can you justify to spend two US dollars per cow?" This may be a nice PR-stunt. But unfortunately, this argument is not only intellectually dishonest, it is factually irrelevant. Yes, in the developed world we are spending money on many things. Not because we are all stupid, but because our standard of living is higher. What's next? Criticising governments for spending public money on hospital beds, costly noise protection walls or fancy trees in parks instead of sending it to Africa?
Not all farm spending is evil. The common objective in the WTO is to reduce all farm subsidies which distort international trade and harm the interests of developing countries. The rest is rhetoric.
In other words: We will vigorously defend out right to support our farmers. It is not up to the WTO, our to some of our trading partners to tell us that we have to wipe out European agriculture with all the jobs, the environmental benefits, the cultural heritage our farmers provide. Societies around the world must have the right to choose which public goods and services are important to them and what they want to support. But, of course, this has to be done in trade-friendly way.
Ingredient number eight: Do not camp on extreme positions.
The EU has shown a lot of flexibility in the last weeks. We have moved from our starting position, because we think that the time of rhetoric is over and we have to start converging. Look at our improved offers to do more on opening markets, to do more in terms of reducing trade distorting farm support, to do more in reducing export subsidies. Unfortunately, I have not seen the same flexibility in other camps so far.
In fact, I have seen no flexibility on the part of those who shout loudest.
Ingredient number nine: Do not have false expectations for Cancún.
This meeting is not the end point of the trade talks, it the mid-point. What we are striving for is to get agreement on a framework on how to cut trade distorting farm subsidies, export subsidisation and tariffs and how to give developing countries a more beneficial deal. The exact figures will then be negotiated later, so that we can wrap up the Doha Development Agenda in the end of 2004.
Ingredient number ten: Do not pirate your partners' names.
Europe is not fighting for a better protection of the names of its regional quality production for protectionist reasons. The opposite is true. EU producers are losing billions a year because non-European producers are free-riding on the reputation of European quality products. Italian Parma Ham producers forego over 3 million € a year because they cannot sell their ham bearing the name "Parma" in Mexico and Canada. This has to change.
Thank you.
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