VVD Europarty on-line

"Democratic pillar in the WTO more important than ever"

Cancun, September 9, 2003

The democratic pillar in the WTO is more important than ever, according to the Dutch MEP Elly Plooij-Van Gorsel (VVD) from the Liberal Group in the European Parliament. On Tuesday, Elly Plooij represented the European Parliament in the Parliamentary conference on the WTO in a discussion on the liberalisation of services. The Parliamentary conference takes place during the 5th Ministerial meeting of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico. Mrs. Plooij is the spokesperson for the Liberal group in Cancun.

“I find that the Parliamentary conference is of vital importance to the WTO. The WTO needs more transparency and more democracy", said Mrs Plooij. "The parliamentarians are the representatives of the people – the many people whose lives will be affected enormously by an agreement here in Cancun. Dialogue with civil society and NGOs is very important; but let us not forget that they are not elected in democratic elections to represent the people. Parliamentarians have been accompanying ministerial conferences since Singapore in 1996. But the turning point was the Parliamentary Conference in Geneva in February this year and here in Cancun we see the parliamentary pillar of the WTO emerging”.

In her speech, Mrs. Plooij emphasised that the services sector is the single most important economic activity in the EU, and on a global scale, the services sector made up 64% of world GDP in 2000. Turning to the problems voiced by many developing countries, which fear they will be deprived of essential services like water supply once the developed countries enter their markets, she said that she believes this is not the case, and that developing countries have an important stake in the negotiations. Market access is crucial for these countries as well. Access to high-quality services, such as telecommunications, transport and financial services, are crucial for economic development and will increase productivity in all sectors. Furthermore, she underlined that market access does not by definition mean 'deregulation', and that all countries are free to regulate services, but this must be done in a non-discriminatory and transparent fashion.

Mrs. Plooij concluded by expressing her optimism for successful negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in services, and her wish for all countries to make a real effort to enhance market access. She said that last week’s agreement to provide special modalities for the least developed countries in the negotiations on services, should hopefully bring these countries on board.

For more information please contact:

Stina Soewarta in Cancún: +529981160704
Philip Tod in Brussels: +32 486 44 04 97