|
1. COMMISSION PRESENTS REVIEW OF PREPARATION OF WTO MILLENNIUM ROUND AT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
The European Parliaments External Relations Committee held a public hearing on 22 April on the WTO millennium round of multilateral trade negotiations due to be launched at the WTO Conference of Ministers in Seattle, from 3 November to 3 December 1999.
At the hearing, the Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate for External Economic Relations, Hans-Friedrich Beseler, presented the Commission’s positions on the subjects of the negotiations. On agriculture he said that the reductions in EU subsidies in the beef and cereals sector are insufficient. Regarding investment, the Commission has always preferred negotiating in the WTO rather than the OECD, because the principal investment security problems occur in developing countries. These countries should not have disciplines developed elsewhere imposed on them. Developing countries are also becoming interested in the area of competition, however the US fears losing rights in this area and is thus reluctant to negotiate on competition. On facilitation of trade, the Commission is in favour of simplifying customs procedures where all custom systems need to be computerised in all countries. According to Beseler this will help developing countries. Concerning market access, the objective should be to reduce peak tariffs in developing countries.
Defending the global nature of the negotiations, Mr. Beseler said only parallel negotiations on several areas would make it possible to reach a fair and balanced result. "We want to open our markets, but we are prepared to take into account the interests of all participants, particularly developing countries." The US in contrast, favours a system consisting of several sectoral negotiations to be conducted simultaneously and concluded as results are obtained. The EU’s representative in the WTO however expressed caution on the idea of global negotiations, stating that developing countries do not have the personnel to take advantage of global negotiations.
WTO members must present their proposal for negotiating subjects by the end of July. EU Trade ministers will meet on 10 May in Berlin for an informal Council to prepare the EU trade position. The Commission is supposed to come up with a proposal on the EU position by this date.
2. OXFAM INTERNATIONAL HOLD DEBATE ON BASIC EDUCATION AND THE ROLE OF THE EU
Eurostep’s member, Novib (Netherlands Organisation for International Development Co-operation), on behalf of Oxfam International, held a roundtable debate on basic education for all and the role of the EU at the European Parliament in Brussels on 21 April. The debate first involved the presentation of the Oxfam International report Education now: break the cycle of poverty. The report identifies a set of policy changes, which are vital to the achievement of education for all. Among the recommendations the report directs at national governments are: the withdrawal of fees for basic education; the increase of incentives for girls’ education; the investment of at least 3 % of GNP on primary education; and the paying of greater attention to improving the quality of education. Among the core recommendations for international action are: debt relief, with the savings transferred to education and other social programmes; an increase in aid for basic education; and reform of IMF programmes to protect access to education.
During the debate Jan Klugkist, of Novib commented that the EU’s spending on basic education is probably no more than 2-3% of the European Development Fund, EDF (EU periodical fund for ACP countries). There are also no signs of any co-ordinated policy at national levels in developing countries involving the EU member states, the Commission and other actors, in addressing education issues. On behalf of Oxfam International he made the following proposals regarding the EU: a) Basic education should be made a key policy target in EU development co-operation. b) The education crisis in Africa should be a top priority for the next EU agreement with ACP countries – Getting 54 million African children into fair quality schools before 2015 should be a key target. c) Earmarked budget support, agreed on a contractual basis with recipient governments, should be the prime means to help achieve this target. d) Spending on basic education should be raised from 2-3 % to 8% of the EDF by 2001. e) Active support should be given to donor co-ordination at national level in developing countries. This should involve practical divisions of labour between the Commission delegation, EU Member States and other donors. f) Collaboration between NGOs and civil society organisations and developing country governments should be promoted. g) The human resources capacity of Commission delegations in the area of basic education should be expanded.
Mr Philip Lowe, the Director General of the Commission’s Directorate for Development (DG VIII) admitted that while the Commission agreed to Oxfam’s proposals, the Commission is still far behind its rhetoric. 60% of Commission aid still goes to infrastructure. The Commission has a limited human resources capacity that is not likely to be enhanced. On donor co-ordination, the right balance has not been found among individual donors considering the priorities for social sectors. The problem with many donors is that they want visibility and this leads to competition amongst them. The EU would have to put a stronger emphasis on donor co-ordination. He said the upcoming EU Development Council (21 May) would include a presentation of an EU paper on complementarity and co-ordination among the EU member states and the Commission. Concerning types of aid, Mr Lowe said structural adjustment support has not yielded the results expected of it. Budget support should be complemented by projects and the capacity of recipient countries to absorb should be improved. On the ACP, he said the mid term review of the 8th EDF should be used more efficiently to review policies on health and education. The Commission will be examining ways on how it can increase support for basic education.
Jan Klugkist called for a hearing on access to basic education, organised by the European Parliament with invitations to NGOs and European Commission experts to discuss a plan for education for Africa. Simon Stocker, the Director of Eurostep said that the EU has adopted resolutions on Human and Social Development including Basic Education. They have not been reviewed yet despite an agreement to review them. Indicators to measure their implementation in the form of quantitative targets should be developed.
3. EUROSTEP, TERRE DES HOMME AND WEED ORGANISE MEETING ON THE EU-SOUTH AFRICA TRADE AGREEMENT AND EU PROPOSALS FOR FREE TRADE AREAS WITH THE ACP
Following the international conference organised by Eurostep’s member Terre des Hommes –Germany and German NGO – WEED, on the impact of the conclusion of the South Africa - EU Free Trade Agreement for the trade negotiations in Lomé last week, the Eurostep secretariat along with the above mentioned organisations are inviting some of the speakers from the conference to address a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday May 5 from 10.00-12.30 hours. The subject of the meeting will be to assess the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and South Africa and its impact on the trade negotiations between the ACP and the EU, particularly the EU’s proposals for Regional Economic Partnership Agreements (REPAs) with sub-regions of the ACP. Amongst the resource persons for the meeting are Mr. Philip Lowe, Director General of DG VIII and Mr. Carl Greenidge, Deputy Secretary General of the ACP Secretariat. For more information you can contact the Eurostep secretariat.
4. IN BRIEF
The EU General Affairs Council decided to extend, for six months, EU sanctions applied against Burma since October 1996 (expulsion of military personnel from embassies, arms embargo, suspension of aid, ban on visits by high ranking officials). In its conclusions the Council expressed its deep concern at the continuing human rights violations in Burma.
The EU General Affairs Council also agreed to
open consultations with ACP States, under the suspension clause
of the Lomé IV Convention, following the coup d’état in
Niger. This may lead to the suspension of EU aid to Niger.
© Eurostep. Please address comments to [email protected]