Members of Parliament call for more transparency and accountability in World Trade negotiations

More than 100 parliamentarians from WTO member countries met during the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in Qatar to discuss how to enhance parliamentary scrutiny of WTO affairs. The meeting was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament and was jointly chaired by Dr. Najma Heptulla, President of the IPU Council and Carlos Westendorp, who lead the European Parliament delegation to the trade talks.

The opening session was addressed by Mike Moore, Director General of the WTO, who told the participants that he applauded their intention to continue working towards closer interaction between parliaments and the WTO. He expressed optimism about WTO members increasingly accepting greater parliamentary participation.

In her remarks, Dr. Heptulla stressed that parliaments had a constitutional role to legislate and to oversee the government. They should take an active interest in trade negotiations and help to shape policy relating to international trade. It was therefore imperative to develop more systematic parliamentary interaction on international trade issues.

Mr. Westendorp stressed that global trade concerned both the individual and society as a whole. Direct parliamentary participation was necessary to ensure more transparency and better representation of the citizen's interests. He advocated the establishment of an independent parliamentary dimension to the WTO.

During the discussion, some of the participants voiced their wish to establish a parliamentary body formally linked to the WTO; others suggested that the parliamentary dimension to the work of the WTO should be channeled through the IPU.

At the end of the debate, the meeting called for the establishment of a steering group to prepare different options for realizing their common goal of providing a parliamentary dimension to trade negotiations. The participants adopted a declaration by consensus reflecting that agreement. The declaration also called for a new paragraph to be added to the final declaration of the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference stating that "Transparency of the WTO should be strengthened by associating Parliaments more closely with the activities of the WTO".

The meeting was the latest of a series of activities undertaken by the IPU in recent years to try to develop a parliamentary dimension to trade negotiations. In the coming months, the Union's governing bodies, the European Parliament and other parliamentary assemblies and organizations will need to work closely to establish a steering group as requested by the meeting. The task of that group will be to prepare future meetings on international trade and should help clarify organizational arrangements for such meetings.

Parliamentary debate on the WTO
Sitting of 8 November 2001 at the French National Assembly

Mr Ferrand - I would like to question the Prime Minister about national parliaments coming together at the ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and more particularly the one that is convening tomorrow in Doha, which some of our colleagues will be attending, and about more regular parliamentary oversight of the work of the WTO.

Since the old days of the GATT, trade talks have been enlarged to cover the environment, food security, social questions, North-South relations; meanwhile, China's accession reminds us that WTO has become the place where the principles of world governance - so necessary since the 11 September - are being fashioned.

The non-governmental organisations, which since Seattle have made their presence felt on the sidelines of the negotiations, were not mistaken. Their success in the eyes of public opinion, which has been boosted by the media, is all the greater because our citizens are well aware of the contrast between the importance of the decisions taken in WTO and the lack of transparency in the organisation.

Should we not involve the people in these negotiations through the intermediary of their elected representatives, rather than leaving governments and WTO members to act on their own ? Would a wider parliamentary participation not reassure our citizens and broaden the negotiations ?

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mrs Heptulla, and Mrs Fontaine, President of the European Parliament, have jointly called for a meeting of all the parliamentarians present in Doha. They will debate the role of parliaments and their members in the multilateral trade negotiations and parliamentary follow-up to the Doha Conference, and in particular the institutional arrangements necessary to endow the WTO with a parliamentary dimension.

Prime Minister, do you intend to move in that direction ? Is it not time to take steps in France to bring parliaments closer together in this way ? (Applause on the right and centre.)

Mr Queyranne, Minister for relations with the parliament - In Doha, where the representatives of 142 countries are meeting, the French delegation, headed by Mr Huwart, Secretary of State for External Trade, will include 10 parliamentarians, four of whom are Senators, representing the full political spectrum.

You are right to draw attention to the growing importance of WTO. That is why a special committee composed of the Prime Minister and other Ministers concerned met yesterday with the President of the Republic to agree on the position that our country will defend in Doha.

The principle of associating national parliaments, politically speaking, in these intergovernmental negotiations is opposed by some States, in particular in the developing world. Action by the Inter-Parliamentary Union therefore seems to be the most appropriate way forward.

The government is fully willing to report to the parliamentary committees on the Doha Conference and to study the most efficient ways of associating the parliament with the results. There will be ten French MPs in Doha and only five representatives of the US Congress: what better sign of our commitment ! (Applause from the left.)