The European Parliament's resolution “Assessment of the Doha Development Agenda in view of the 10th Ministerial Conference” was adopted at the European Parliament today.

GUE/NGL trade policy spokesman, Helmut Scholz, said: “In Nairobi, a fundamental change of course regarding the objectives and mechanisms of international trade policy and its rules must be discussed.”

He added: “It is not the countries of the global South, and especially the often-maligned States of India and Brazil, that curb the processes in the WTO, but the developed countries. Those who always present the same concepts of a total liberalisation should not be surprised to also and repeatedly encounter rejection. Surely you cannot blame, for example, India, for the fact that at least this one country considers the nutrition of its own people more important than free trade and declines speculation on food prices on globalized markets.

MEP Scholz continued: “It should be clear to all politicians and policy makers in OECD countries now that the vast majority of the population in many developing countries rejects such neoliberal 'recipes' with their often long-term disastrous consequences for social development, the eradication of poverty and the preservation of the environment.

“At the outset, the aim of the Doha Round was to eradicate the conditions of poverty which had led to the recruitment of terrorists who committed the 09/11 attacks. Current events remind us of the fact that this goal has been all too quickly forgotten,” said the GUE/NGL trade expert. “In Nairobi*, a fundamental change of course regarding the objectives and mechanisms of international trade policy and its rules must be discussed. No more, but also no less.”

*The 10th WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Nairobi from 15 to 18 December 2015.

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

Nikki Sullings + 32 483 03 55 75