Text tabled : B7-0478/2011

  Paul Murphy (GUE/NGL). - Mr President, we are now three months away from the next round of negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda and it is already very clear that no substantial progress will be made.

Let us recall that ten years ago at the launch of these negotiations we were told that these would be win-win negotiations. That whole idea, that win-win scenario, has been a lie from the start in my view. The deadlock in the negotiations underlines the fact that development and poverty eradication are not compatible with the interests of the major players in the global economy, particularly in the case of this deep economic crisis. The WTO has never been, and will not become, an organisation that facilitates trade in the interests of workers and small farmers. It is an undemocratic institution that primarily represents the interests of the major corporations. Its policies have resulted in privatisation, lower labour standards and an increase in exploitation.

The WTO has failed the test of the Doha Development Agenda. It should be abolished and replaced by a system based on genuine global solidarity and cooperation between peoples. That means tackling the dictatorship of the markets and planning the economy on people’s needs.