Agence France Presse | By Michael Thurston | June 26, 2003
The EU called on the United States Thursday to follow its lead and slash farm aid after striking a landmark accord to reform its own system that it said would strengthen its hand in world trade talks.
The European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, pointed the finger squarely at Washington after EU ministers reached a deal to reform the long-disputed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
"There are a lot of schoolmasters telling us in the last few months that we have to do our homework. Now it's up to others to do their homework," said EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler.
"For example, thinking of our American friends: contrary to what the EU has done over the last few years, they've resurrected a lot of the trade-distorting policies of the past and actually increased agricultural support enormously.
"You should really practise what you preach," he said.
The United States has warned that the entire Doha round of liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) could fail unless agricultural subsidies are reformed.
Opponents of the CAP say that by directly subsidising EU farmers, the policy encourages massive surpluses that are dumped on markets of poorer countries.
EU farm ministers, meeting for the third week of talks in Luxembourg, early Thursday partially severed the link between subsidies and production levels.
In a joint statement the ministers said they were "sending a strong message to European farmers, European citizens and the world, in particular the developing countries".
"It constitutes an important contribution to the Doha development agenda and sets the framework for the Union's negotiations in the World Trade Organisation round," they added.
Germany, the paymaster of the CAP, said Thursday's deal "clearly strengthens the EU's negotiating position" for a WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico in September.
Greek Agriculture Minister Georgios Drys, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said the accord was "a message for our WTO partners: in Cancun, the EU will have a strong position."
But the United States has put responsibility for unlocking world trade talks squarely on Europe's shoulders.
"Agriculture is the heart and soul of the Doha development agenda," said US trade representative Robert Zoellick last week. "It's become clear that whether we move ahead or get stuck very much depends on the European Union," he added.
But Fischler said it was a "fairy tale" that the United States had done away with all support for its own agricultural sector.
"These reforms send out a clear signal to our international partners worldwide: in the forthcoming WTO negotiations we will be able to take a more offensive role," he said.
"The upper hand we get in negotiations thanks to this reform will only be used to the extent that we get reciprocity. We're not going to have unilateral dismantling (of aid). We expect others to respond in kind."Agence France Presse:
