>> VERSION FRANCAISE   
ISSUE N°12
DECEMBER 2003
 
C O N T E N T S
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white cube Editorial
white cube Inauguration of the House of Parliaments
white cube Interview with
European Commissioner, Mr. Pascal Lamy
white cube Cooperation with the UN
white cube Interview with Prosecutor of ICC, Mr.Moreno Ocampo
white cube Seminar in Sarajevo
white cube Women: elections in Rwanda, seminar in Sri Lanka
white cube Technical cooperation update
white cube Parliamentary developments
white cube Read in the press

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The World of Parliaments
Interview with Mr. Pascal Lamy, European Union Trade Commissioner

Mr. Pascal Lamy

As parliamentarians continue to closely monitor negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to conclude the Doha Round within the deadline, a specialist shared his views.

" Economic globalisation has taken trade policy out of the hands of experts and put it back in politics "

Q: Can parliamentarians play a role to help their electorates and the pressure groups gain a better understanding of the activities and importance of the WTO?
P. L. :
The role of parliamentarians is obviously vital in the definition, implementation and explanation of public policy. Parliamentarians are frequently grappling with citizens’ concerns about globalisation, whether they concern public services, the environment, social clauses in trade, food security or cultural diversity. In other words, economic globalisation has taken trade policy out of the hands of experts and put it back in politics. The collective choices of a society are debated and formalised within parliaments. Trade policy is an interpretation of those choices. The intervention and involvement of parliamentarians is not only necessary: it is entirely legitimate if trade policy is to be democratic. Their work affects every aspect, from the definition of trade policy to the monitoring of public authorities acting on behalf of various States in the World Trade Organization. They thus have an essential role to play in informing citizens about the functioning of the global trade system and the importance of the WTO which brings all States around the same table to set the rules of the game.

Q: How can parliamentarians become more closely involved in the decisions taken by the WTO which have a direct impact on citizens’ daily lives?
P.L. :
We will only make headway in opening up rules-based trade if we have public opinion behind us. There has to be a public debate in which parliamentarians have their say. Parliamentarians from a number of countries met at the “Parliamentary Conference on the WTO” at the recent WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun. This is an initiative that I entirely support. An inter-parliamentary dialogue on the principal subjects debated in the WTO can do nothing but good. It should improve the quality of the decisions and the legitimacy of the multilateral trade system in the eyes of the public, while ensuring that the views of the public and their collective preferences are taken into account in the WTO process. The European Commission has become accustomed to including members of the European Parliament in the official EU delegation to WTO ministerial conferences. We did so in Doha, in Cancun, and we will continue to do so in the future. With this in mind, I also pressed for the future EU Constitution to single out the role of the European Parliament in the definition of the trade policy which defends the interests of the 15 (and soon 25) Member States of the European Union in the WTO. In my experience, more parliamentary democracy can only reinforce the positions of the negotiators. In any case, that is my feeling in the case of the European Union.

Q: The Cancun talks were a failure. How do you see future events unfolding for the Doha Round of negotiations, and do you see a role for parliaments?
P.L. :
It would be a grave mistake to pretend that Cancun was only a minor incident. Cancun was a political bombshell which, as I see it, should prompt all the WTO Members to review their positions in the trade talks. In the European Union, we have started a debate, firstly with the European Parliament and with the governments of the Member States, in order to check whether the foundations on which we have built our trade policy over the last few years are to remain unchanged. I would assume that other WTO Members will do the same and would also need input from their elected representatives. I also believe that it would be useful for MPs of different countries to meet among themselves to talk about how to get out of the impasse and build bridges between the diverging positions. There are a good many questions on which the negotiators need guidance. Personally, I have singled out four, to which the WTO Members must find convincing answers if we are to move forward, and the parliamentarians will certainly have something to say about them too. The first concerns the role of the WTO: should it be limited to opening up markets or should the process go hand in hand with the establishment of rules – rules which make the market-opening process genuine, and which ensure that it is responsive to other values in our societies? Second, what importance do we attach to the multilateral system as opposed to bilateral or regional initiatives? Third, we must examine the real contribution to development of more open trade, and ask ourselves if that contribution should be measured only in terms of the extent to which the poor countries are exonerated or excluded from the multilateral disciplines. Finally, we have to look at how to overhaul the working methods of the WTO so that it can perform efficiently with 148 Members. I think that all of this would provide good material for several WTO parliamentary conferences!

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