| Associate
Members’ Conference
THE
FUTURE OF EUROPE: ENLARGEMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Towards a Quaker view of Good Governance
Friday 18 – Sunday 20 October 2002
Report
of working group 2:
External
Relations: focus on development and trade.
We
reminded ourselves of the words in ‘A Quaker Vision of Europe’:
“We
recognise our interdependence and realise that our success can
be secured only in the success of the whole world system…
We reject an economy in which there must be exploitation and losers.”
We
agreed that any statement made by QCEA should be concise and simple,
and that we had no right to imply that other individuals and organisations
working constructively in the ways we suggest in any way lacked
spirituality. However, our Quaker background explains how we reach
our conclusions and illustrates that we try to see all our activities
as spirit-led.
We,
as Quakers, come from a tradition that values truth, simplicity
and integrity and which regards nobody as of no account.
We
welcome (in particular) the Preamble and First Chapter of the Cotonou
Agreement. We believe that the words ‘sustainable development’
cover most of the objectives there set out and we offer our recommendations
to the Convention in that spirit. Sustainable development, in our
view, includes not only environmental effects, but also social,
political and international outcomes of the policies pursued. It
also acknowledges the actions and sacrifices which have to be made
on the part of EU member states
We
thus ask the EU to implement its trade and development assistance
policies with the following considerations in mind.
1.
External trade is the best engine for development, but, considering
the time it took for European countries to industrialise and modernise,
there is scope for choice in the route towards wholly open markets.
2.
Measures open to the EU include an end to subsidies and dumping
for its own agricultural products; a trade regime that encourages
primary producers to add value to their products (instant coffee
is an example); a flexing of rules of origin for beneficiaries of
the ‘anything but arms’ programme; and, encouragement
(by consumer information and other means) of ‘fair trade’
and of co-operative production and marketing.
3.
The EU should encourage by inspection and publicity the observance
of labour and environmental standards, especially in the practices
of multi-national companies.
4.
In development assistance programmes, the EU should seek opportunities
for empowerment and local ownership of schemes. We note the success
of WHO programmes based on salaried workers with no aid budget as
such. In this spirit, we hope that when aid programmes are suspended
because of human rights or other contraventions, the ensuing dialogue
will be given senior level support as a matter of priority. This
may offer a link to the Commission’s conflict prevention operations.
5.
We note that EU member states are parties to the programmes of other
international financial institutions. We believe that their contributions
to policy should be concerted at EU level for maximum impact. We
also recommend to member states that they should consider acting
likewise over bilateral programmes.
6.
The EU should ensure that WTO decisions are taken openly, permitting
the full participation of developing countries.
7.
Where the trade policies we advocate have an adverse impact on the
home market of member states, the EU should recognise the need for
gradual adjustment.
8.
As well as the education programme that rightly form part of development
assistance programmes, we see a need for EU citizens to be better
informed about issues of development and world sustainability.
Rapporteur:
Richard Seebohm, Britain Yearly Meeting.
Conference
materials also available:
Conference
report and general conclusions
Keynote
speech by Michael Lake, former EU Ambassador to Turkey and Hungary
(1991-2001) and Special Adviser to Commissioner Gunter Verheugen.
Reports
from conference working groups on:
Democratic
and Spiritual Values: the governance of an enlarged Europe.
Foreign
and Security Policy: focus on Conflict Prevention and US/Europe
Relations.
Supporting
the Citizen: rights, responsibilities and social policy.
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