Home > Press releases > 1999
10 May 1999
The European Union should drop plans for a new “Millennium Round”
of negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Friends of
the Earth have warned. European trade ministers meet today in Berlin
to discuss the Millennium Round proposal, first floated by EU Trade
Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan.
The WTO rules already make it difficult for Britain and other countries
to place environmental restrictions for example on GM foods. FOE believes
that the Millennium Round could further restrict the right of individual
states to protect their environment from the effects of unregulated
free trade. It could also strengthen the economic power of the United
States at the expense of smaller, less developed countries. 500 non-governmental
organisations from more than 60 countries have joined forces to oppose
the new talks [1].The Millennium Round is also opposed by developing
countries including Egypt, India,Malaysia and 21 countries in Southern
and Eastern Africa.
Recent problems connected with WTO rules include:
- the failure of world governments to agree
a Biosafety Protocol to control international trade in genetically-modified
products (under the Convention on Biodiversity) [2];
- the UK Government blaming international
trade law for its inability to impose a moratorium on growing genetically-modified
organisms (GMOs) in the UK, and threats from the USA that it will
begin a trade dispute if European countries obstruct trade in GMOs;
- the imposition of US sanctions on selected
European industries because of support for Caribbean banana growers;
and
- a continuing row over the European ban on
imports of American hormone-treated beef.
A new Millennium Round will discuss removing industrial tariffs. The
United States also wants to open up international trade in timber
and forest products, threatening sustainable forest policies across
the world. The EU also wants talks on trade facilitation and Government
procurement [2]. FOE warns that the effect of the Millennium Round
could be to make environmental and social standards subordinate to
global rules of 'free trade'. This
would not solve the problems of the existing WTO; it could actually make
them worse.
The WTO is in theory a 'one-member one-vote' organisation. But the practice
is very different. Closed 'clubs' of powerful governments such as the
Group of Seven Economic Summit reach agreement on common concerns. Extreme
pressure is then exerted on countries with weaker economies to agree to
decisions already taken.
Last year saw the collapse of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development's proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI).
The MAI was intended to open up national economies to foreign investment,
and would have reduced governmental control over inward investment while
increasing the rights and legal status of transnational corporations.
Governments that were promoting the MAI, including the UK,have transferred
their attention to the WTO and hope to introduce investment as a 'new
issue' in the proposed Millennium Round. Pledges to include environment
and labour as'new issues' in the discussion are insufficient and are expected
to be dropped at an early stage in the negotiations.
Commenting, FOE Campaigns Director Tony Juniper, said:
"The WTO is moving in the wrong direction and at the wrong speed.
If the trading system is to meet the world's needs in the twenty-first
century, it needs a complete turnaround. People need an economic system
that puts fairness and quality of life before profit. The EU trade ministers
should knock the Millennium Round plan on the head without delay.”
[1] A "Statement from Members of International
Civil Society opposing a Millennium Round or a New Round of Comprehensive
Trade Negotiations" has. been signed by 544 organisations from over
63 countries. Copies of the statement are available from FOE Press Office.
[2] Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
met in Colombia from 14-24 February 1999, to discuss a Biosafety Protocol
to regulate trade in genetically-modified (GM) products The negotiations
collapsed after opposition from a countries in the 'Miami Group' (Argentina,
Australia, Canada, Chile, Uruguay and the United States). The Group wanted
to exclude all food crops (90% of world GM trade); and to ensure that
WTO rules explicitly took precedence over the rules of the Biosafety Protocol.
Notably, the United States is not a Party to the Biosafety Protocol, but
attended as an observer.
[3] 'Trade facilitation' means efforts to remove
bureaucratic obstacles to international trade. Trade facilitation negotiations
could be used to attack high environmental, health and safety, or labour
standards. 'Government procurement' refers to negotiations to open up
government procurement contracts to foreign tenders. This could be highly
significant for developing countries, some of whom have government procurement
contracts worth up to 70% of their GDP, which they may well need to control
in order to direct the sustainable development of their economies.
The EU wants talks on the legal relationship between
multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)and the WTO; discrimination
between imports on the basis of their processing and production methods(PPMs);
ecolabelling; and the precautionary principle. However, many of the Commission's
plans could make it more difficult for countries to use trade measures
to protect the environment.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
