Brussels - European Union officials Thursday urged all sides
taking part in next week's key global trade talks in Geneva to be
flexible, warning that failure to reach a deal would hamper economic
growth.
'The growth of the global economy is not something that happens of
its own accord, without political choices,' said the bloc's chief
negotiator, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
'The openness that has powered the global economy for the last
decade is the result of trade deals made fifteen years ago. We have
cashed in those political choices. The growth and further market
opening of a decade from now will hang on the choices we make now,'
he added.
The commissioner said the EU would go to Geneva having done 'all
that is realistically' possible to secure a 'balanced and ambitious'
deal'.
'All negotiators need to do their fair share of the heavy lifting
to make next week's ministerial meeting a success,' he added.
Starting Monday, World Trade Organization (WTO) ministers will
seek an agreement on the Doha Round, which is designed to liberalize
global trade by removing barriers.
The negotiations have been dragging on since the round was
launched in the Qatar capital in November 2001, amid disputes over
subsidies to farmers by the US and EU and tariffs on industrial goods
imposed by the developing economies of Asia and Latin America.
One major obstacle involves the export of bananas to the EU. Latin
American countries want Europe to stop providing more favourable
trade conditions to its former colonies in Africa, the Pacific and
the Caribbean.
EU officials confirmed Thursday that they were willing to accept a
compromise, drafted by WTO head Pascal Lamy, whereby the bloc would
gradually lower its import tariffs on Latin American bananas.
The EU 'will not bloc' Lamy's proposal on bananas, Mandelson said.
Observers note that the EU's negotiating power risks being
undermined by the tepid support for Mandelson from France, one of the
EU's most protectionist countries.
Last month its president, Nicolas Sarkozy, raised eyebrows in
Brussels by blaming Mandelson for Ireland's rejection of the EU's
Lisbon treaty.
Saying this was not the first time in his career that he had been
wrongly blamed, Mandelson noted that he had received a clear mandate
to negotiate from member states, despite the fact that they may have
'different priorities'.
The EU's agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, responded
to the concerns of French farmers by saying freer trade would bring
benefits, and not just costs, to the agricultural sector.
'The EU will not accept a deal at any price', the commissioner
added.
EU ministers were due to hold a final preparatory round of talks
among themselves in Brussels on Friday.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story