Parliament must have trade talks veto, deputies insist

Date: 11/07/02

By Peter Chapman

THE European Parliament this week stepped up its long campaign to get a greater say in the way the EU conducts its trade negotiations.

Deputies from all leading parties in the assembly's trade committee said it was unacceptable that decisions are taken behind their backs, with details of negotiating stances often leaked to the press before they see them - as with the European Commission's position on forthcoming talks on trade in services.

They want the Commission and member states to report 'in real time' on emerging negotiating policies before it is too late for them to have a say.

Crucially, they also want the right to throw out deals they don't like - as is the case with the US Congress (even if President George W. Bush is granted so-called 'fast-track' powers, giving him a freer hand to negotiate trade accords).

German Christian Democrat Konrad Schwaiger said the Parliament should have a say in regional trade as well as World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations. 'We want to be formally consulted in the orientation phase and then should be able to give our assent.'

Schwaiger's compatriot, socialist MEP Erika Mann, said giving the assembly more power would help the EU to take tough political decisions on trade - and would balance US strength in the arena. She told Danish European Affairs Minister Bertel Haarder he should press their cause during Copenhagen's six-month stint at the helm of the Union - coinciding with the launch of a new round of WTO talks.

British Liberal Nick Clegg said MEPs were already given the right to sign-off on the Uruguay round of talks concluded in 1993, thanks to a legal technicality.

MEPs had the power of assent over that deal - because it involved the setting up of a new institution, the WTO, which has its own budget.

But he said this should now set the precedent for all future trade talks, claiming such a move was 'far less radical than is sometimes upheld'.

Clegg claimed that MEPs were 'incredibly disappointed' that they failed to win this right during the 2000 Nice intergovernmental conference (IGC) on changes to the EU's treaty rule book.

He said MEPs would now work overtime to win support for their stance at the Convention on the future of Europe as well as at the next IGC, which is set to get under way in 2004.

Despite the MEPs' onslaught, Haarder said Copenhagen would not be pushing the issue - although he admitted few member states, let alone the European Parliament, had a similar system to the US.

'The short answer is this is a matter for the IGC,' said Haarder, himself a former Liberal MEP.

The European Parliament has stepped up its long campaign to get a greater say in the way the EU conducts its trade negotiations.