British Prime Minister Tony Blair will warn his European partners in the final two weeks before the crucial Gleneagles G8 summit that unless they dismantle the R350-billion Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Africa will never free itself from poverty.
The acrimonious stand-off in Brussels last week over the cost of the CAP was a signal of Britain’s determination to push farm subsidy reform to the top of the agenda.
Smashing trade barriers is the third part of the government’s year-long campaign to offer a multi-billion-dollar ‘Marshall plan’ to the world’s poorest continent. After G8 finance ministers promised R350-billion worth of debt relief to Africa last weekend, and European countries agreed to double overseas aid, Britain now hopes to persuade rich countries to open their markets to Africa’s farmers.
Last night, Downing Street said the CAP ‘has a detrimental effect on the capacity of developing countries to export their own products through world markets, and this is why we are arguing that it should be reformed as part of a global deal on export subsidies, which should be ended by 2010’.
‘Trade is vital to empowering developing countries to stand on their own feet,’ said a spokesperson for Gordon Brown. Britain wants the EU to abolish export subsidies within five years, without demanding tit-for-tat concessions from poor countries, at this year’s critical World Trade Organisation talks.
Sir Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI, backed the government’s drive for reform of the generous subsidy regime.
‘Africa needs more money, but if it’s not linked to ending European agricultural subsidies, it’s blatant hypocrisy. The way to build lasting economic growth, healthcare and education is for Europe to end the CAP. Stopping trade-distorting subsidies will allow African products to be exported and stop European goods being sold more cheaply in Africa.’
As well as pushing for progress on trade reform at the Gleneagles summit, Britain will use its presidency of the European Union, which begins next month, to argue that the CAP is a wasteful anachronism.
‘It does not reflect the economic priorities of the European Union in the 21st century,’ said Blair’s spokesperson. ‘We have made it clear that the Commission’s budget should be fundamentally reviewed with a view to removing these distortions.’
He added that more than 40% of the EU’s budget is spent on agriculture, while only five per cent of its population are farmers. – Guardian Unlimited Â