Towards a reformed World Trade Organisation

2007/2184(INI)

8.10.2007

DRAFT OPINION

of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
for the Committee on International Trade

on Towards a reformed World Trade Organisation

(2007/2184(INI))

Draftsman: Gunnar Hökmark

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls on the Committee on International Trade, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

1. Reasserts its commitment to free trade, calls for reduced state aid and transparent competition legislation, and notes that open markets based upon free and undistorted competition are crucial to stable global growth;

2. Points out that the WTO is the only global organisation dedicated to the rules of trade and it is more likely to be efficient if its remit is simple and restricted to trade policy and the implementation of its rules;

3. Calls for a new WTO consultation and mediation mechanism to strengthen its capacity to remove increasingly important non-tariff barriers;

4. Believes that the capability to apply and implement common rules for free trade calls for other forms of decision-making than unanimity within the WTO;

5. Believes that the WTO offers the best opportunities for poor countries to eliminate poverty; regrets that restricted resources put poor nations at a disadvantage when negotiating; underlines that EU should support a strengthened WTO secretariat and increased resources for technical support, especially to developing member states;

6. Encourages the EU to take a lead in removing state aid and export subsidies and to require the same from its partners;

7. Emphasises that it is in the interest of EU that global markets for services should be just as open as for goods, underlines in this light the importance of financial markets, and notes that this calls for more open European markets of agriculture and goods.