Unyielding EU serious obstacle to Doha hopes
Cairns Group of agricultural powerhouses says without concessions, round is in danger of collapse
The Doha Development Round is under serious threat of failure because an 'intransigent' European Union has so far failed to make meaningful concessions, an influential farming group said yesterday
'The WTO round is at a crucial point. Without real progress here in Hong Kong this week the round is in danger of failure,' said Peter Corish, chairman of the 17-nation Cairns Group Farm Leaders, whose members hail from agricultural powerhouses including Australia, Brazil and Canada.
He said an agreement had to be reached by the end of next year but a watered-down agreement this week would be worse for farmers than no agreement at all. He added it was possible there would be another WTO ministerial meeting early in the new year if this week did not yield a strong outcome.
WTO negotiations on agriculture are based around three pillars of trade reform: greater access to markets in developed countries, reductions in domestic support for farmers in those countries and an agreement to eliminate export subsidies by a particular date.
'Market access is the priority,' Mr Corish said. According to the World Bank, 93 per cent of potential gains of trade liberalisation would come from improving market access in developed countries such as the US, Japan and in Europe. The bank estimates removing government subsidies and tariffs could lift world incomes by US$300 billion a year, mostly in developing countries.
The EU position on market access calls for average cuts to tariffs of about 38 per cent according to Allan Burgess, the Trade Committee Chair of the National Farmers' Federation of Australia. But the Cairns Group, the G-20 and the United States are all calling for cuts of about 60 per cent or more.
'I would suggest there is a requirement for the EU to show significantly more ambition than what has been shown so far,' Mr Corish said.
Mr Burgess said tariffs needed to be decreased by a larger amount than Brussels is proposing because remaining barriers would continue to deter trade. While the European proposal is seen as inadequate by most other WTO countries, deep divisions within the EU over the removal of trade barriers has prevented member states from coming up with a stronger commitment on agriculture.
'The EU is calling for a very ambitious approach on non-agricultural market access but is not prepared to make a similar offer on agricultural market access,' Mr Corish said.
Opposition to trade barrier removal is particularly strong in France and late last week EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson was reportedly engaged in last-minute negotiations with French representatives to try and come up with a compromise proposal to present this week.
'I am in no doubt that we would lose the support of the member states if we contemplated a new offer on agricultural tariffs. They simply do not see enough else on the table to consider this move,' Mr Mandelson said in a press conference last Thursday.
The Cairns Group includes Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay and has lobbied to eliminate farm subsidies since its formation in 1986.
