The European Union Friday sharply dismissed criticism of its farming subsidies, saying it had done far more than the United States, Canada or Japan to allow access to agricultural exports from poor countries.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of World Trade Organizationministers, EU trade spokesman Anthony Gooch said Europe had essentially dropped all import duties and quota fees for agricultural exports from the world's 49 poorest countries.
"Ask the Americans, the Canadians and the Japanese if they would be willing to do the same," Gooch told AFP in reference to criticism of EU agricultural policies.
He pointed out that the EU decided to go it alone in dropping restrictions for the world's poorest countries in March, after the United States and Japan declined a proposal to do so jointly.
The liberalization measures are already in effect for all goods except sugar, rice and bananas, which will gradually be included in the deal, though Gooch says those three products are effectively included as the EU has raised quotas to cover current import figures.
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and another 16 trade representives from across the globe held a series of bilateral meetings Friday and planned an eight-hour multilateral session on Saturday.
The informal talks in Mexico City aim at narrowing differences, notably between rich and poor countries, ahead of the November meeting of the WTO, which could mark the start of a new round of market-opening talks.
"We have already said that in a new round, we would be ready to increase market access, decrease export subsidies as well as domestic support destined to industrial production," said Gooch.
He insisted this went far beyond the US commitment.
"You will hear Americans saying we don't want this, we don't want that," he said, adding that the EU, on the other hand, was "open on all issues."
But he did concede there were some limitations in Europe's ability to reform its agricultural policies.
"There are hardliners in the Cairn group (of exporting countries) who say: 'you should treat agriculture like any other product' -- have no subsidies. To that we answer that we have seven million farmers and that if we don't support them they could disappear," said Gooch. |
