Debate: Multilateral negotiations in view of the th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, - February
Date: THURSDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Ylva Johansson
Language: EN

I particularly welcome the emphasis on the importance of multilateralism in general and the WTO in particular, in the current challenging geopolitical context. As you know, the EU is playing a leading role in sustaining and reforming the WTO as this multilateralism is in our DNA. MC13 in Abu Dhabi starts in less than three weeks. On behalf of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, I would like to underline that there is a lot of work to be done in the run-up to the conference and a lot of work to do during the conference itself. Replicating the success of MC12 in 2022 will be extremely challenging, but we must be able to show that the process of WTO reform launched at MC12 is on track, and that we can and will deliver a more effective organisation. In the Commission’s view, a package for MC13 should include the following six components: substantial progress on dispute settlement reform; concluding phase two of the Fisheries Subsidies negotiations; a pathway for agriculture towards MC14; the extension of the e-commerce moratorium and associated work programme; making the WTO a forum to discuss trade and industrial policy and the interface between trade and environment, updating the ‘deliberative function’, in WTO jargon; a package for developing countries. The first and most important of these for the EU is dispute settlement reform. Indeed, a binding dispute settlement system at the WTO has been one of the greatest achievements of this organisation, and we are now counting the costs of its absence with an erosion of respect for WTO rules, including through so-called ‘appeals into the void’. In other words, appeals to a non-functioning appellate body. For MC13, the principle that there should be a reformed appellate body and a time frame to have this issue resolved would be the minimum we would hope to achieve. As Members of this House are well aware, the conclusion of phase one of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement at MC12 was an example of the WTO’s concrete contribution to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It now behoves us to complete the work at MC13. However, the entry into force of the phase one Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies still remains uncertain as we have not reached the threshold of ratifications, despite the EU having shown leadership in already having ratified it last year. We thus continue to rally the remaining members to ratify the Agreement. With regard to the so-called ‘phase two Agreement’, we are working hard to conclude it by MC13. Unfortunately, divergences of members’ positions have grown. Agriculture will be an important file at MC13, not least given the global food insecurity context, but also given its link to development and to environmental sustainability. Outcomes at MC13 should, on one hand, address the current food security challenges, in particular for the most vulnerable WTO members and, on the other, help advanced agricultural reform towards MC14. In our view, the focus should be on reforming trade-distorting domestic support and finding a solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes. It will be important for the EU to continue promoting the reforms towards more environmentally sustainable policies, in line with the approach in our own agricultural policy. The renewal of the e-commerce moratorium is crucial to maintain business support for the WTO. It’s also the key contribution from the WTO to the digital transition. We are in a better position now than at a comparable time before MC12, as we have over 100 members, including the ACP countries supporting the extension. As a fundamental component of the reform of the organisation, MC13 should ensure that the WTO becomes the forum for policy discussions on current global challenges affecting the trading system. One key challenge is the growing use of industrial policies, including industrial subsidies, by governments across the world. Another key challenge is the interface between trade and the environment. At MC13, we will need to deliver a development package to unlock a broader set of outcomes on other topics. We can achieve this by mainstreaming development considerations into all aspects of the WTO agenda. The package should include a solution for the graduation of least developed countries, so that they can still benefit from certain LDC advantages as they grow out of the LDC status. On a final note, I would like to highlight the conclusions of the negotiations on services, domestic regulation and investment facilitation for development. At MC13, we will most likely see a request for the integration of the Investment Facilitation Agreement into the WTO Agreement. These developments are important from the perspective of showing that the WTO can deliver negotiated outcomes. Honourable Members, the complex geopolitics, divergent positions and negotiation tactics will make it challenging to reach agreements at MC13 on all the issues I have outlined here. We are sure to have several sleepless nights, as was the case at MC12, but at MC12 we managed to achieve what DG Okonjo-Iweala called ‘the miracle on the lake’. The EU is fully committed to lead the charge and to work towards a ‘miracle on the gulf’ in Abu Dhabi.