Axing export subsidies for a Doha trade deal

Date: 28/04/05

Germany's Agriculture Minister Renate Künast has warned that the Doha round of trade talks will founder unless the EU commits itself to scrapping export subsidies.

Farm supports are likely to be a make-or-break issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Hong Kong this December. The aim of the meeting is to bring the round of talks launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 to a successful conclusion by rewriting global trade rules in a way that benefits the world poor.

"I cannot imagine that a lot of developing countries will say 'Yes' to a WTO result, without [rich countries] abolishing export subsidies," Künast told European Voice, adding that the "most important point is a fixed date" for their scrapping.

In August 2004, the Union gave its blessing to a WTO declaration that committed it to phasing out the €2.8bn export supports the EU hands out each year. Yet no precise timetable was given for doing so. France, a principal beneficiary of EU farm spending, has insisted that the phase-out should correspond with reform of the Common Agriculture Policy, suggesting that the earliest abolition date would be in 2015-17.

Yet other member states want a speedier solution. Senior figures in the UK's ruling Labour Party have recently blamed farm supports in rich nations for allowing produce to be dumped at cheap prices on poor countries, undermining the incomes of their farmers. Labour's manifesto for the 5 May general election says the EU's export subsidies should end by 2010.

Künast, who belongs to the Greens Party, said she wished to see a timeframe that would only be a few years, although different dates could be set for different products. Export subsidies for the transport of live animals should go "as quickly as possible", she added.

On Monday (25 April), Künast received an award from the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare. She has introduced a ban on battery cages for laying hens in Germany and succeeded in having a high level of animal welfare recognised as an official policy goal in the country's federal constitution.

Germany's Agriculture Minister, Renate Künast, warned that the Doha round of trade talks would founder unless the EU committed itself to scrapping export subsidies on agricultural products. Farm supports were likely to be a crucial issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial in Hong Kong, December 2005. The aim of the meeting was to bring the Doha round of talks, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, to a successful conclusion by rewriting global trade rules in a way that benefits the world poor.

Website: WTO: Doha Development Agenda: Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm

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