WORLD TRADE WT/FIFTY/H/ST/5
19May1998
ORGANIZATION(98-2074)
50thANNIVERSARY Original: French
Geneva, 19May1998
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Commission oftheEuropean Communities
Statement byMr.Jacques Santer,
President
On30October 1947, therepresentatives ofeightgovernments signed a"Protocol ofProvisional
Application oftheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade" inGeneva.
What avisionary actattheendoftheSecond World War, tooptforatrade system founded
onnon-discrimination andagradual opening-up ofmarkets! Inthewakeofabloody war,reconstruction
wasnecessary. Relationships between States needed tobebuiltonnewfoundations. Weneeded to
impose thevision ofaninternational order based ontrade andprosperity forallintheinterests ofall.
Thepioneers oftheGATT, likethefounders oftheEuropean CoalandSteel Community in
1952, hadpolitical intuition about whatneeded tobedone. Theyhadthecourage, above all,toundertake
suchambitious enterprises asthereconciliation ofnations through theirmostpractical aspects. Tenacity,
patience, determination ...Thearchitects oftheGATT believed inthesolidity ofstructures thatwere
builtstepbystep.Inasense, thebuilders oftheinternational trading system, likethebuilders ofEurope,
placed timeontheirsideandworked withaclear vision ofwhatthefuture must be.
TheGATT hasproven itself. Starting outasaprovisional, unratified treaty, itsundeniable
successes hastransformed itintoafull-fledged international organization. Thisdevelopment onlyserves
toincrease theimportance accorded toitsworkandthelegalforceofthecommitments made inGeneva.
TheWorld Trade Organization nowforms thethirdpillar oftheinternational economic system along
withtheWorld Bank andtheInternational Monetary Fund.
Consolidation oftheGATT 'ssuccess
Over its50years ofexistence, theGATT hasbeenthedriving force behind unprecedented
international tradeliberalization, asaresult ofwhich, theaverage tariffimposed onindustrial products
bythedeveloped countries hasfallen from40percent,immediately following theSecond World War
to4percentaftertheconclusion oftheUruguay Round.
Doweneedtorecall thatoverthese 50years, international trade hasbeenamajor driving
force ofeconomic growth andthusofourprosperity? Indeed, itisultimately thesuccess ofeconomic
orientations defended bytheGATT from theveryoutset thathasledtheformer planned economies
towanttojointheWTO today.
Onehundred andthirty twocountries aretoday celebrating theanniversary oftheGATT.
Onehundredandthirtytwocountrieswiththemostdiverselevelsofeconomicdevelopment,representing
alltheregions oftheworld. And33governments havestarted negotiations foraccession totheWTO,
anorganization clearly settobecome universal andinwhich allcountries participate onanequal footing
informing aconsensus.WT/FIFTY/H/ST/5
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Iwould liketostress, forfuture WTO Members, theeconomic advantages ofaccession.
Accession willnottakeplace atanycostbecause thebenefits mutually accorded byWTO Members
presuppose compliance withtherules ofthegame. Ontheother hand, accession should not,inmy
view, bepresented asabrutal adaptation oftheeconomies which stillremain outside ofthesystem.
Itis,above all,aprocess, agradual move towards openness, aprogramme ofreforms tobeintroduced.
TheCommunity isalready giving technical assistance tosuchlarge economies asRussia andChina
toenable them better toprepare theirnegotiations foraccession totheWTO.
Another major challenge ofthenextfewyears willbethefullintegration ofdeveloping countries
intothemultilateral system. Inthisregard, theEuropean Community hasmade agreateffort toensure
thattheleast-developed countries haveaccess toourmarket. Wehavehonoured ourcommitments.
Obviously, wewould hopethateachofuswilldothesame.
Confirmation ofthepre-eminence ofthemultilateral system
Among theinitial signatories totheGATT werefivemember States ofwhatwaslatertobecome
theEuropean Community. Andindeed, thespirit oftheGATT wastobefound, tenyears later, at
theveryheart oftheTreaty ofRome establishing theEuropean Economic Community.
With its370million consumers, awide-open market, oneofthehighest percapita incomes
intheworld, andsoon, asingle currency for11ofitsmember States, theEuropean Community is
themostimportant trading entity intheworld. There isnoneedformetoemphasise thisforthose
whoarefamiliar withthework carried outhereinGeneva.
But,overandbeyond thefigures, theEuropean Community hascontributed anewdimension:
regional integration accompanied byconsiderable openness tothirdcountries. Itisaregional integration
ofaveryspecial kind, inwhich thecommercial integration ofmember States isnotafinalgoal, but
rather themeans ofachieving ever-deepening political integration; andinthatsense, itcannot be
compared withanyform ofcooperation between States wehaveknown thusfar.Itisaform of
integration whose specificity deserves toberecognized anddefended inmultilateral negotiations.
Onthestrictly commercial front, itisarecognized factthatthecreation ofthesingle market
hasalsocontributed toopening uptheEuropean market toimports fromthirdcountries. Inotherwords,
Europe oftheFifteen isasuccessful example ofintegration inGATT terms. Itisanintegration which,
farfrom introducing newbarriers between itsintegrated space andtherestoftheworld, ispaving
thewaytogreater liberalization ofworld trade.
Thetrade relations oftheCommunity withthirdcountries takeaccount ofthepre-eminence
tothemultilateral system. Ourmain objective ismultilateral action andtheWTO must remain the
principal driving force behind global liberalization.
Thisapproach iswidely shared. Itwasexpressed afewdaysagobytheHeads ofState and
Government participating intheBirmingham G8Meeting. Similarly, theEuropean Union andthe
United States, attheirsummit meeting heldyesterday inLondon, committed themselves tothejoint
preparation ofthenextstages ofmultilateral liberalization. Thisdoesnotmean thatthere willbeno
progressonthebilateralfront,wherethereisaneed,inparticular,toensuregreaterconvergencebetween
European andAmerican regulatory systems. Thisrapprochement willmake iteasier topursue the
multilateral process inthese verycomplex areas.
Strengthening ofthedemocratic legitimacy oftheinternational trading system
Formerly known mainly bygovernments, administrations andacademic circles, thework of
theWTO isarousing growing interest inthebusiness community andinmany non-governmental
organizations. Thisisgood, because thedecisions taken inGeneva willhaveadirect impact onthe
livesofcitizens inaworld thatisbecoming lessandlessfragmented.WT/FIFTY/H/ST/5
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Itisparticularly satisfying, inthiscontext, thatadispute settlement system hasfinally been
introduced which willensure thatallmember countries respect alloftheagreements concluded. The
European Community hasfullconfidence inthedispute settlement system, although there isalways
room forimprovement aswemove towards anevermore efficient andprofessional system.
However, tobefullyunderstood andaccepted, theglobal integration movement mustbebetter
grasped bywider circles ofpublic opinion. TheWTO cannot allow itselftobebranded withtheimage
ofananti-democraticorganizationwhichdisregardsculturaldiversity,hasnorespectfortheenvironment
orlabour standards, andwhich actsagainst theinterests ofalarge majority ofcitizens, inparticular
themost disadvantaged.
Weknow thatthisisnottrue. But,perhaps thetechnicians oftheGATT andtheWTO have
nottaken enough timetoexplain theiractivities andconvince thepublic.
Itherefore think itisurgent notonlytoincrease thetransparency ofthework carried outby
theWTO, butalsotoengage inagenuine dialogue withalltherepresentatives ofcivilsociety. This,
inourview, isataskwhich wemust address without fail.
Deepening oftrade liberalization
Inowturntotheimportant subject ofanewround ofmultilateral negotiations which wecould
callthe"Millennium Round". Itisourviewthatthebestwayofadvancing multilateral liberalization
istostartanewround. Indeed, experience hasshown thataglobal approach offers more promising
prospects thanaregional orsectoral approach. TheEuropean Community istherefore encouraging
eachofustoprepare actively forthese newnegotiations, whose objectives should besufficiently
diversified toarouse maximum interest.
Iencourage WTO Members toembrace thisapproach. Iknow, andweallknow, thatthere
areother approaches. Wearenotbeing dogmatic. TheEuropean Community alsohasitslistofpriority
issues tobegiven special attention inthecourse ofbriefnegotiations yielding thebestpossible results.
Butisthisreally feasible, bearing inmind thedifferent concerns weeachhave?
During thenewround ofnegotiations, theCommunity would liketoaddress, interalia,the
work programme, trade andtheenvironment, thesubjects identified inSingapore, industrial tariffs
andnon-tariff barriers. Iwould alsoliketohighlight theimportance theCommunity attaches tothe
Singapore Declaration relating tocorelabour standards. There mustbecloser cooperation withthe
International Labour Organization, andweshould seektocooperate withtheWorld Health Organization
aswell. These linksarenecessary toensure thatallaspects ofaparticular issuearethoroughly studied
andthatthedecisions taken bytheWTO takeother concerns intoaccount.
These, briefly, arejustafewissues towhich weshould giveserious consideration. In
conclusion, Iwould liketosaythattheWTO isanessential instrument foreconomic stability andpeace
among nations. Atatimewhen thepressure offinancial crisis inAsiaontheworld economy isa
source ofconcern, theWTO mustfullyassume itsrole. More thanever,WTO Members mustreaffirm
theiroppositiontoprotectionistmeasuresandcommitthemselvestokeepingmarketsopenandtopursuing
aprocess ofmultilateral liberalization.
Thesuccess oftheGATT, itscapacity forreform andadaptation overthepast50years, and
itsmarch towards universality, provide strong grounds foroptimism.
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