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EU Commission faces hitch with WTO farm plans
BRUSSELS (January 18 2003) : The European Commission presented its plans to EU states on Friday for tariff and farm support cuts as part of world trade talks, but failed to get approval, officials said.
The Commission, which negotiates trade on behalf of European Union members, said states had asked for more time to consider the document and had been given until Monday to respond.
"It is very complicated in terms of what is the real scope of the proposals.
Monday is the deadline to give an answer," the spokeswoman for European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told Reuters.
The Commission in December presented its proposals to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as part of global trade talks launched in Doha in 2001, which will also cover agriculture.
The aim is to improve market access, particularly for poor and developing countries, and reduce market distorting subsidies.
EU diplomats said France, one of the main beneficiaries of farm funds, had opposed the Commission's proposals, which included a cut in farm tariffs of 36 percent, of 45 percent in export subsidies and 55 percent in farm support.
One diplomat said some EU states had been worried that the Commission's proposal was giving away too much to Europe's trade rivals at the WTO, while accepting that the bloc had to make some sort of contribution to the agriculture talks at the WTO.
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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