Mr President, it appears that Doha has sounded the alarm bells here in this House. Over the past two years, the WTO has been under fire on many occasions, with good reason. Some of the critics claim that there is so much wrong with the WTO that we should not start a new trade round until the problems surrounding, for example, fair access to the world market for developing countries, the lack of democracy and decision-making within the WTO and the imbalance between trade and non-trade issues have been resolved. We, the Social-Democrats, however, have reached the opposite conclusion. These problems must be solved as an absolute priority, and it is precisely by starting a new trade round that this can be achieved most effectively. Only then will reform be truly possible. The Group gives its unqualified support to a new trade round with a broad-based agenda aimed at economic and political reform. It is quite simple: we know that trade stimulates growth, attracts investment and creates employment, both within and outside Europe. The world economy is now poised between recession and recovery. The recession as a result of the terrorist attacks on 11 September gives the perpetrators ultimate triumph. Who stands to suffer most from these attacks? The world’s poorest of the poor. The World Bank expects that the terrorist attacks will cut economic growth in the developing countries from 5 to 2.5%. The expected growth and effects are approximately another ten million people under the poverty line and an added 20 000 to 40 000 children under five who will die. That is a disaster. A new trade round is necessary in order to restore confidence in the world economy to some extent and to open the way to renewed sustainable growth. We also know, however, that trade on its own is not enough. Without an adequate regulating mechanism, we run too great a risk of the trade benefits being distributed very unevenly indeed and of the environment and social standards coming off worst. That is why in the negotiations with other groups on the resolution, we, as the Group, insisted that the Fourth Ministerial Conference’s first priority should be to tackle worldwide poverty, reforms, democracy and the relationship between trade and non-trade issues. Why? Think of the impact of the WTO rules on matters such as the environment, safe food, workers’ rights or the freedom of governments to regulate public services without running the risk of being taken to court by profit-seeking multinationals. To the Social-Democrats, the fundamental objective of institutions such as the WTO is to bring worldwide processes such as globalisation under political control, enabling us to steer these processes in accordance with democratic, political choices. It is therefore our greatest challenge, together with many developing countries, together with many reform-minded and sound NGOs, in the face of opposition from the neo-Liberals, but also from a number of our fellow MEPs here in Parliament and that section of the anti-globalists who oppose a new round, to start this new round nevertheless. The Fourth Ministerial Conference is a key moment in the debate on globalisation, including the socio-economic security aspects of this debate. If the programme for the forthcoming three-yearly trade round compiled at the Ministerial Conference does not provide a solid basis for progress in the field of democracy, the fight against poverty, environmental protection, growth in developing countries and the protection of public services, then we, as Social-Democrats, fear the worst for the course of the current debate on globalisation, and eventually the very concept of globalisation itself. This is the message of the resolution which, we hope, will be adopted tomorrow. We support a new trade round. We are in favour of free trade which is fair and supports the citizens throughout the world. Finally, a word about the acid test in all of this. We hope that those cheap medicines which the President talked about in plain terms will also prove to be a true test, for without it we cannot imagine that this new round could be successful. We wish Mr Pascal Lamy every success, for he is doing fantastically well so far. He has a great relationship with our Parliament, for which we are very grateful to him.

Political group: PSE