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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(80)307
Vol.1980/0110

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COMMITON
OFTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIESCOM(80)307final
Brussels,3rdjjUne1980
FOROFFICIAL USEONLY
GeneralSecretariat
GUIDELINES FORTHEFURTHER WORKINPREPARATION
FORTHENORTH-SOUTH GLOBALNEGOTIATIONS
(Communication fromtheCommission totheCouncil)
-Supplement toCommission Communication
COM(80)21of23January1980-
COM(80)307final

TheNorth-South globalnegotiations launchedbyUnitedNations
GeneralAssemblyResolution 34/138shouldbeopenedbythespecial
sessionoftheGeneralAssemblytobeheldinAugust-September .
Thesenegotiations werethesubjectofafirstCommission communi­
cation(C0M(80)21of23January)whosegeneralapproachwasapproved
bytheCouncilon18March.Sincethen,theCommitteeoftheWhole
established underGeneralAssemblyResolution 32/174hasheldtwo
meetingsasthePreparatory Committee (21March-11Apriland5-16
May).Thegoalofthiswork,whichwillbecontinuedinJune
(23June-3July),istopreparetheagendaanddeterminethe
negotiating procedure,withthefinaldecisionsrestingwiththe
specialsession.
Aftermakingabriefanalysisofthesituation asitstandsat
theendoftheMaysessionoftheCommitteeoftheWhole,this
paperattemptstodefinethebroadlinesofwhatcouldbethe
Community'sattitudeduringthecontinuation oftheproceedings
attheUnitedNations,withparticular referencetothosetopics
which,becauseoftheirimportanceinthenegotiations asawhole,
arelikelytobeatthecentreofdiscussions .

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1.Briefanalysisofthesituation
LiketheAprilmeeting,theMaymeetingoftheCommitteeofthe
Wholetookplaceinacalmatmosphere .TheGroupof77avoideddogma­
ticstatements .Inspiteoftheirdesiretoavoidarepetitionofthe
rathergeneraldiscussion attheAprilmeeting,theylistendedtoand
commentedseriously ontheexplanations providedbytheCommunity,
especially thosegivenatthebeginningoftheproceedings inreply
toquestionsraisedduringtheAprilmeeting.
AsinApril,thesocialistcountriesplayednopartinthe
discussions andChina'scontribution wasverysmall.Thereticence-
indeedabsence-ofsomeoftheOPECmemberstates,particularly those
fromthePersianGulf,wasalsonoted.
Onthewhole,themeetingwasratherrepetitive butitdidallow
thevariouspositionstobeclarified,particularly concerning proce­
dure.Notagreatdealofrealprogresswasmadeindrawingupan
agendafortheglobalnegotiations ,thoughithastobepointedout
thattheCommittee wasnotworkingagainsttheclock,sinceitwill
meetagainbeforethespecialsession.Attheendofthemeeting,the
Chairmansaidthathewouldnotallowthevarioustextstobegiven
afurtherreadinginJune.
TheCommunitywenttoNewYorkwiththeintentionofdefending
itsthematicapproachandwithnoamendmentstosuggesttothedraft
agenda.Thethematicapproachhadtwoadvantages :thatofdealing
withtheissuesbytakingaglobalviewofpresentworldproblemsand
theirinterrelationships ,andthatofselectivity .Whilethe77
consideredthatthereweresomeshortcomings inthisapproach,they
/

-3-
didnot rule itout assuch .The Community 'sproposal isadmittedly
onewhich accommodates thedeveloping countries' desiderata ona
number ofpoints ,anddetailed explanations ofthese points were
given bytheCommunity 'sspokesmen totheGroup of77.
Asfarasenergy isconcerned ,theforeseeabi lity regarding
supply ,demand andprice trends ,which webelieve tobeinthe com­
moninterest ,must gohand inhand forthe77with discussions to
protection ofpurchasing power .This applies notonly toenergy but
also torawmaterials .They seem toaccept that ourpoints ofcon­
cern should betaken into account inthe "energy "section ofthe
agenda butareoftheopinion that theCommunity should make clear
how itviews theforeseeabi lity ofsupply ,demand andprice trends
instead ofproposing that thfcse subjects should bestudies merely
asapreliminary tothenegotiations proper .The77CMexico )also
referred indirectly toPresident Lopez Portillo 'sworld energy plan ,
thus showing that they were basing their agenda proposal largely on
this approach .
Theother major criticisms oftheCommunity 'sposition con­
cerned monetary questions andinsutrialization .Asformonetary
questions ,the lack ofanyreference to"reform oftheinternational
monetary system "wasseen bythe77asthemost important omission
intheCommunity 'sproposal .Forthem ,reforms inthemonetary field
«
areindispensable ifthesystem asawhole istowork better andthe
77 (that is,theoilproducers amongst them )aretoembark onan
energy policy which also caters fortheneeds oftheindustrialized
countries .
«

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Also,forthe77,industrialization mustbecoveredbythe
globalnegotiations .
WhiletheUnitedStatesconfirmeditsresolvenottobea
"demandeur"intheenergyfielditdidindicate(asithaddonein
thepreparations fortheInternational Development Strategy)that
itwaspreparedtobemoreopenaboutmonetaryquestions.
Thediscussions ontheprocedureforthefuturenegotiations
showedthatthepositionadoptedbytheCommunity,whichhatalwaysre­
gardedthisitemasinseperable fromthesubstanceofthenegotiations ,was
well-founded .Whiletheacceptance bythe77ofthetheideaof"two
orthree"adhocgroupssetupbythecentralbody(inthiscase
theConference )mayberegardedasapositivegesture,itmustnot
beforgottenthattheyareopposedtoanydecentralisation ofthe
negotiations andarethinkingintermsofabindingfinalagreement.
FromthisbriefsummaryofthecriticalpointsoftheMay
meeting-energy,monetaryquestions,industrialization ,procedure-
itcanalreadybeseenwhicharethecontentious subjectsthatare
likelytodominatefuturework.
TheCommunitymustbepreparedforthisnewphaseofthene­
gotiations .InNewYork,itpresented adraftagendawitharguments
whichdidnotlackcoherenceorpoliticalimpact.
%
./.

-5-
2.Guidelines forfuturework
TheAnalysisoftheworkcompletedsofarhasshownthevalue
oftheapproachadoptedbytheCommunity,whichitshouldmaintain
withoutexcessiverigidityandbearingitsnegotiating objectivesin
mind.
Asfarasthepreparatory phaseisconcerned,theseobjectives
shouldbeessentially :
(a)tokeeptheagendafortheglobalnegotiations withinacceptably
flexiblelimitsbychoosingfornegotiation thosesubjectsthat
aremostpressingandimportantininternational economicco­
operation;
(b)todrawupanagendafortheglobalnegotiations whichwillnot
undulyinfluencethecourseofthenegotiations themselves;
(c)toestablishrulesof,procedurefortheglobalnegotiations
whichrespectthefieldsofactivityanddecision-making autonomy
ofthespecialized agenciesandorgansoftffeUnitedNations
system;
(d)toarrangetheagendaandprocedureinsuch*awayastofavour
anintegrated approachtotheproblemstackledintheglobal
negotiations .
%TheCommission proposesthattheCouncilshouldobservethe
followingguidelinesinthefuturestagesofthepreparatory phase:
/

-6-
Asregards theagenda
Asageneral rule ,theCommunity should agree toaccomodate
some oftheGroup of77'spoints ofconcern byamplifying its
proposals making them more explicit where itappears that this is
reciprocated byareal effort toachieve selectivity onthepart
ofthe77andtheir acceptance ofamore balanced agenda inthe
field ofenergy .
Inthis field ,itshould bemade more explicit that the item
concerning theforeseeabi lity ofsupply ,demand andprice trends
isoneofsubstance andnotmerely amatter forstudy .Still in
theenergy field ,instead ofusing thevague heading "other matters ",
theCommunity should show itself more open toconsideration ofsome
oftheaims pursued bythedeveloping countries inthenegotiations ,
whether ornotthey are oilproducers .
Inthese circumstances ,areference inthefinal agenda to
theproblems ofindustrial redeployment linked totheproblems of
market access ought tobeacceptable .The Community could also ex­
press itsreadiness todiscuss certain monetary questions insofar
asthey fit inwith itsthematic approach andwith account being
taken ofany links between them andthe problems being discussed
inthefields ofenergy andexternal balances .
%
./.

-7-
Asregards procédure
TheCommunity should keep totheposition ofprinciple which
itdefended before theCommittee oftheWhole without coming up
against anyconvincing objections .This couldform avaluable basis
forcompromise ,especially since itallows for acertain balance
between centralization anddecentralization anddoes notgosofar
astodeprive thevery concept ofglobal negotiations ofallmeaning .
Inthe light ofthestate ofplay intheagenda discussions ,
theCommunity 'sposition still hastobeclarified ontwopoints :
(i)Thenature andscope oftheglobal agreement .
While itisclear that ,the Community will advocate the
consensus procedure forreaching theagreeement that isto
mark theconclusion oftheglobal negotiations ,thescope of
anyagreement ,soreached andthenature oftheundertakings
forputting itinto effect must still bedefined .Itwould ,
however ,bepremature tomake theCommunity 'sposition final
until theconditions for aconsensus ontheagenda are
clearer .
(ii)Adhocgroups tonegotiate individual parts oftheglobal
agreement .
The Commission believes that the number and the nature of
these working groups should befixed during thepreparatory
* phase oftheglobal negotiations .Itbelieves that theCommunity 's
thematic andintegrated approach should beexpressed inthe
organization ofthenegotiations bytheestablishment ofa
number of"multisector "working groups ,which could mean not
having tosetupa"monetary "group ,forexample .
This formula ,which wasfloated bythespokesman ofthe
77,hasthefollowing advantages :
/

-8-
1.Itfavoursanintegrated approachtotheissues,allowing
stresstobeplacedontheeconomicinterrelationships while
avoidingtherevivalofaCIECmodelwiththedangerofthe
negotiations beingdividedintofiveseparateareas.
2.ItplacestheCommunityinabetterpositiontoadjustits
degreeofinvolvement intheglobalnegotiations depending
onhowfullyandopenlythe.oilproducersparticipate .
3.Itmaintainsthedecision-making autonomyofthespecialized
agenciesbecausethereisnodirectconnection betweentheir
fieldsofactivityandthetermsofreferenceoftheworking
parties.
9
ThisoptionwouldimplythattheCommunitywouldhaveto
distanceitselffromthepositiontakenbytheJapanesedelegation
totheCommitteeoftheWhole,favouringthesettingupofan
"energy"group.TheCommissionbelievesthatthissolution,at
firstsightanattractive one,wouldencounterseriousdifficul­
ties.Itwouldmeaneitherthatthe"energy,rgroupwouldbethe
onlyonetomeetatNewYork,withallothermattersbeingdealt
withinotherforums,orthatthe"energy"groupwouldbeplaced
alongsideothergroupshandlingequallysectoralmatters.
Thefirstalternative wouldbeunacceptable totheGroupof77to
whomtheideaofdecentralization ,appliedinsucharadical
manner,callsthewholeideaofglobalnegotiations intoquestion.
ThesecondwouldobligetheCommunitytogiveupthebenefitsof
multisectoral negotiations outlinedabove.

-9-
TheCommission believesthatadistinction shouldbemade
betweentheorganization oftheglobalnegotiations(i .e.the
thematicandintegrated approach)andtheaimsoftheCommunity
inthenegotiations themselves .Oneofthemostimportantof
theseistheestablishment ofapermanentforumfordiscussions
betweenproducers andconsumersofenergy,whetherindustrialized
ordeveloping .Thisgoalcouldbecompromisedifitwereraised
tooearly,particularlyiflinkedtoproceduralprovisionsofa
temporarynature.