WTO talks posturing veils state self-interests
Blair has pledged to wage a monumental struggle to kick-start stalling WTO negotiations in an effort to ease the continuing controversy over subsidies, particularly those doled out to European farmers for decades.
As well as being British prime minister, Blair as the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, is attempting to breathe life into the stalled WTO talks.
On Monday the British prime minister used a foreign policy speech to boost the flagging WTO talks.
In it he stressed his commitment to getting trade talks back on track before next month’s Hong Kong WTO summit.
Failure would “echo round the world”, Blair pontificated.
From this side of the Irish Sea, however, his campaign is tantamount to turkeys voting for Christmas.
Huge pressure is coming on the EU to cut their subsidies dramatically.
The French are implacably opposed to change while in the best Irish tradition our government is saying nothing and quietly hoping the French’s stance will endure.
Blair’s call for action once again highlights the pressure on the EU to reform its tariff structure in order to create what some argue will be a more genuine access to markets for poorer countries.
Some of the rhetoric has been pretty frightening from an Irish farming perspective.
At this juncture the US is presently calling for a 90% reduction on EU food subsidies, a demand which they cannot seriously hope to achieve when WTO ministers meet in China on December 13 to try to agree a framework for reducing trade barriers.
Blair’s comments will put added pressure on European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to make deeper cuts in agricultural protection, where some have already accused him of selling out.
To further hammer home his point on reform Blair has argued self-interest and mutual interest “are inextricably linked.”
France is not buying this sort of humbug and insists it will veto any offer that proposes further cuts to its agricultural subsidies.
This is a complex area. Blair seems genuinely concerned about poorer countries and he was instrumental in having the debt of poorer African nations scrapped earlier in the year.
For too long those wanting to see reform have argued the poor of Third World Countries have never been given a fair chance at international trade.
Not only are they poorly paid for what they produce, but dumping of cheap goods from the EU and other developed nations has kept them in grinding poverty for far too long.
In recent months we got pretty exercised about the Groceries Order introduced to prevent the big multiples from selling below cost. This is in effect is what the rich states have been doing for a long time and the WTO reform is trying hard to root out that practice.
For farmers the changes could not have come at a worst time. Multiple stores are putting huge pressure on margins and in turn the price for raw materials is being slashed.
The net effect is huge pressure on those still trying to make a living from the land. But a healthy scepticism is required when it turns out the US government has sided with poor African states in calling for overhaul of subsidies.
Recent evidence suggests the US only ever acts in its own interest and in aligning itself to the cause of Africa it is likely to set the reform process back 10 years.
Oxfam has already slammed the proposals insisting the current deal would actually make Africa poorer.
“Calling this a ‘development’ round sounds like a cynical joke to many African countries,” said Muthoni Muriu, Oxfam International Pan-Africa Trade Advisor.
