28/7/2006
European Parliament deplores suspension of WTO talks

The chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, Enrique Barón (PSE, ES), said he regrets the sine die suspension of WTO trade talks, announced Monday evening in Geneva by WTO Director General Pascal Lamy. "The European Parliament and its International Trade Committee aren't resigned to the perspective of a definitive failure" of the Doha talks, he said.

"Since the start of the round, we have constantly reaffirmed the need for an ambitious agreement, in line with the initial objectives. As the need for a global framework to relaunch growth and stimulate development in the poorest regions of the globe has never been more urgent, our citizens won't understand how so much effort and resources, both human and financial, could have been deployed to no avail," Enrique Barón said. 

At a time when the G6 (EU, US, Japan, Australia, India and Brazil) negotiators are accusing each other of intransigence, the chairman of the Trade Committee believes that "the WTO is showing its limits. It is time to rethink the way it works and dare to come up with new solutions".
 
Giving the WTO a parliamentary dimension
 
To overcome national egos and increase the WTO's legitimacy, there should, he says, be a parliamentary dimension to the organisation, giving an area for dialogue between representatives of member country parliaments. The WTO's Parliamentary Conference, organised since 2001 by the European Parliament and the Interparliamentary Union, could serve as the basis of a future body for parliamentary dialogue within the WTO. 
 
The EP will also continue to insist, in the coming months, on the need for a rebalancing of competences between the Parliament and the Council of Ministers to better control trade negotiations handled by the European Commission. Baron Crespo noted that this is envisaged in the European Constitution.