Chatting with the European Union Trade Commissioner

Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner, held an internet chat today with people around the world, in an attempt to respond to complaints that the WTO process is not open and accountable. Actually, Pascal Lamy sat there while about a dozen typists relayed his messages to about fifty people around the world. We made him squirm a little.

Lamy got off to a good start when he admitted that “the EU and US, as the two elephants of world trade, have special responsibilities”, but he failed to specify what action the EU was willing to take to help poorer nations.

Lamy’s assertion that “the WTO is already more democratic than most International bodies” also got no positive reaction from chatters. Wonder why…

The debate quickly moved on to the United State's use of the WTO to force countries to accept GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Lamy was confident that the EU would be able to defend its right to regulate GMO approvals, despite a US-led WTO complaint. On the question of what impact the GMO giant Monsanto has on this issue in the US, Lamy simply responded: “Big. But I don't live in the White House.”

Greenpeace campaigner Gerard Greenfield pointed out in the chat that since the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety – which recognises the right of countries to reject GMOs – comes into force during the WTO Cancun meeting, the EU should use this opportunity to state that Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) such as the Biosafety Protocol must take precendence over WTO rules.

This has been a major problem with the WTO since it's inception in 1995. The mandarins that run the organization feel it is their right to over-rule previous environmental agreements if they feel that those agreements interfere with trade. This arrogance must end.

To this Lamy gave the same old song that WTO rules and MEAs can be “mutually supportive”. He did concede that “the threat to biodiversity is certainly there”, and that the EU will try in Cancun to highlight the entry into force of the Biosafety Protocol on September 11: “Yes we will try to ensure that that this does not go unnoticed, but others will certainly also remind us at Cancun.”

You bet! Greenpeace will keep calling on the EU to choose between so-called “free trade” (read: forced trade) and protection of the environment and the people that depend on it!

See the full transcript of the chat here

Dan Hindsgaul, Greenpeace campaigner in Cancun.

The office is buzzing

With the start of the WTO ministerial meeting a week away, the Greenpeace temporary office in Cancun is getting busier.

The Greenpeace office in Cancun is tucked into a small pedestrian mall a stone's throw from the Conference Center that is set to host the WTO delegates. (Disclaimer: we won't be throwing stones, or supporting the throwing of stones) It's easy to miss, as we are not really advertising our presence yet.

The office used to be a store. It comes complete with worn out white stucco walls, industrial tile flooring and a crush of desks holding computers, printers and internet cables. Deluxe flourescent lights and a view (for the lucky few) of more shops and the back of an enormous Cancun hotel. Beach resort chic, I say.

The office is getting more crowded, though the bulk of our delegation has yet to arrive. Cancun is getting more crowded as well, with armies of gardeners putting in trees and shrubs and police milling about and keeping busy looking menacing and putting up barbed wire.

Speaking of getting down to work, the WTO has been openly challenged in the last few days to come through on it's promises for this round of negotiations - namely, to get it's act together and help poorer nations by coming up with rules that stop favouring rich nations at the expense of poorer nations and the environment.

Oxfam released a report that says the WTO is facing failure in this round of talks, and that it is running out of credibility by failing to help poorer nations.
Running into the Sand: How failure at Cancun threatens the world’s poorest people

Meanwhile, Brazil's lead trade negotiator warns that the chances of the WTO agreeing on measures to help poorer nations in Cancun are slim. "Absolutely nothing has happened during the last eighteen months regarding development or agriculture agreements or understandings,” says Ambassador Colodoaldo Hugueney. Read more