Mr President, I am sure you have seen it, that Oxfam cow, to which we are currently giving shelter in our Parliament. For us Europeans, this cow is of course a symbol of affluence. But let us be realistic, for people in the developing countries this cow stands for unfair world trade. There is a good reason for Oxfam campaigning under the slogan ‘Make trade fair, stop the dumping’. I cannot repeat it often enough, and Mr Deva has also used the example: for a fifth of the poorest people in the world, the amount that this European cow receives in subsidy per day is more than they have to live on each day. In point of fact, the aim of our social democratic input at the WTO negotiations in Cancún next week is to come closer to genuinely fair world trade. Mrs Morgantini’s report on aid and trade therefore comes at the right time. It also clearly chooses the side of the developing countries. Unambiguously, the rapporteur stresses that, two years ago, clear agreements were made in Doha, but that there are difficulties in following them and observing them. First and foremost, it is the rich north – we may well look a little longer at the United States – that has been in default. In June, also in Europe as a party to the treaty, we just in time reached an agreement on the reform of European agriculture. This weekend we were finally able to reach an agreement, a huge breakthrough, on cheap medicines, following very strong resistance from the United States. It was at the last minute, but it was undoubtedly a huge breakthrough. Apart from agriculture and medicines, the core of the Doha negotiations, the trade in services will also be on the agenda in Cancún. In his report Mr Lannoye takes a closer look at one of these services, that is the supply of water. His argument is that water is public property. I would say water production in particular, that is what my group actually supports. Water production must therefore stay in government hands, but for many developing countries private capital is needed for water distribution. The Commissioner has explained this. That does not mean that it must not happen under the control of the government, which is responsible for access and pricing. But 1.7 billion people have no access to clean drinking water and as many as three billion have no access to sanitary facilities. There is a compelling need for a good policy in this regard. Social democrats are in favour of public services remaining in government hands, a public responsibility of government control. But that does not mean that the private sector does not have an important part to play in parts of water distribution. This is the essence of the debate and here we agree with what the Commissioners said. In my group, as my colleague has already said, there are different thoughts about this. A second product that warrants special attention in the light of trade and development, and which is often overlooked in the discussion of agriculture, is cotton. Four West African countries have called on the WTO to recognise the strategic importance of cotton for development, combating poverty, and food security in Western and Central Africa. Ten million people are directly dependent on the production and export of cotton. Their development is being hindered by trade barriers in the cotton sector, as a result of which prices are being kept artificially low. Our plea is that, in Doha, we should take measures concerning products such as sugar and cotton. We are also sure that the Commission can take action in this direction. Then we will have fair trade. More trade therefore means more success for the poor countries.

Political group: PSE