The Battle of Brussels and the Siege of Wan Chai
A really forced smile from WTO Director-General and erstwhile Nosferatu lookalike Pascal Lamy.
Having been on the road in Bhimtal for the past few days, I've not been able to deal with this one in much detail, but suffice it to say that major events have been afoot with the simultaneous EU budget talks and the WTO Hong Kong negotiations.
And both ultimately appear to have failed.
In Brussels, Tony Blair's presidency of the EU ended ignominiously with the partial surrender of the UK's rebate. The main error on Tony's part was letting this become the issue while the real issue is the CAP. He was trying to use the rebate as a bargaining chip to force badly needed CAP reform and got little more then a wishy-washy promise to review. Review, not reform.
There was a moment in the press conference that said it all:
Interviewer: Can you tell the British people that this has been a success?
Tony (ebulliently, despite lack of sleep): I certainly can! Errrr....
It was that 'Errr...' that did it for me.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the very same issues are under debate. It's the agricultural subsidies enjoyed by the EU and US that the mainly Korean rioters were up in arms against, and the scenes were ugly to put it mildly (though at least they didn't all get shot, like some protesters in mainland China we could mention).
In fact the subsidies do no-one any good but for a small minority of French and grain-belt farmers. They screw farmers in the developing world, leading to poverty and even famine; they screw taxpayers in non-agricultural regions (like Britain); and they hold back investment in the technology and knowledge economy that is required for the EU to compete with the burgeoning population-dense economies of India and China.
That's the sad thing - but for an antiquated policy designed for a long-gone lifestyle, we'd all be better off.
More links:
The Guardian -
Angry Blair defends EU budget deal
Beijing takes a back seat
Fury on the streets turns to gloom
The Economist -
Hard truths in Hong Kong
Another splendid compromise
Lean and mean, but not very popular
Weighed in the balance
