EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told the European Parliament, on June 5, 2007, that the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, is critical for the outcome of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of negotiations.

However, “as we approach the deciding moment,” leading negotiators are “hardening their positions rather than offering compromise and flexibility,” he said.

Also present at the June 6-8, 2007, G8 summit are leaders of key players in the Doha Round such as Brazil and India.

Mandelson said he regretted signs from Brazil that it was prepared to “lower its ambition” for the negotiations. Brazil has said the United States and EU have not offered big enough cuts in farm protection to justify big cuts in tariffs on imports of industrial goods by developing countries.

“If others are going to lower their ambition, there is an obvious implication for the EU as well,” he said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking on the opening day of the summit in Heiligendamm, on June 6, said that five years of negotiations are “enough”. “We have to conclude the negotiations in 2007 as a matter of urgency,” he stressed.
 
The G8 summit this year is dominated by other issues, primarily the issue of climate change. More is expected on the trade talks from a meeting in Potsdam, Germany, on June 19, when the EU, US, Brazil and India are due to meet for five days in what is being seen as a last-gasp bid for a breakthrough in the global trade talks.

June 7, 2007