Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 17 • 18th May 2005
Pascal Lamy Set To Become Next WTO Director-General
Former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy is set to succeed Supachai Panitchpakdi as Director-General of the WTO. His last remaining rival for the job, former Uruguayan WTO Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo, conceded defeat on 13 May. Barring any unforeseen problems, the 26-27 May meeting of the WTO General Council will formally confirm his appointment; he is set to start a four-year term on 1 September.
Lamy emerges as most likely consensus candidate
WTO General Council Chair Amina Chawahir Mohamed, who has been leading the consultative process to choose Supachai’s successor, told WTO Member delegations on 13 May that the third and last round of "confessionals" indicated that the Frenchman was more likely to attract Members’ consensus support. She said that she would formally recommend that the General Council accept Lamy’s candidacy at its upcoming meeting.
Lamy was the favourite of almost four-fifths of the WTO’s 148 Member delegations, attracting support from not only the EU’s 25 constituent Members, but also from many African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) country Members, several of which receive trade preferences from the EU. The latter group had initially backed the candidacy of Mauritian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jaya Krishna Cuttaree, who withdrew from the DG race in April (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 May 2005). Some prominent developing country Members including India, South Africa, and Thailand also chose Lamy over the representative from their G-20 counterpart, Uruguay.
The man who famously described the WTO’s functioning as ‘medieval’ in the wake of the collapse of negotiations of the Cancun Ministerial Conference in 2003 thus now stands poised to take the helm of the organisation. Lamy’s most pressing task will be to facilitate an agreement at the December WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, and to shepherd the Doha Round of trade talks to a successful close.
During his tenure as EU Trade Commissioner from 1999 to 2004, Lamy attracted the ire of several developing countries due to his support for bringing the controversial ‘Singapore issues’ — particularly investment, competition and government procurement — into the WTO. Others complained about his sympathy towards including labour and environmental criteria in WTO talks. Some also begrudged him for what they saw as his defence of EU farm subsidies and protectionism. On the other hand, Lamy also attracted the criticism of some rich countries for his past proposal that least-developed countries be given a ’round for free’ — i.e., that they should not be asked to make any additional commitments as part of the Doha Round.
Lamy, for his part, maintained throughout his candidacy that his past arguments were made in his role as the EU’s senior trade negotiator, and that they would not compromise his impartiality as head of the WTO. "The question is whether you can distance yourself from your previous constituency," he told the press in a February interview. "I think I match the bill."
Members grateful for smooth selection process; a handful dissent
Delegates by and large reported relief and satisfaction that the selection process had not been a repeat of the rancorous 1999 leadership contest. The previous race proved extraordinarily divisive and paralysed the WTO for months, distracting Members from preparatory work for the Seattle Ministerial Conference later that year, which went on to end in failure. Some trade diplomats who had supported other losing candidates suggested that the result was one they could work with, and that the lack of division surrounding his appointment already represented a positive start.
Uruguay’s current WTO Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmes made what was described as a gracious statement after the meeting, admitting to "mixed feelings" but stressing the importance of rallying behind a single candidate.
Costa Rica was the only country to express qualms at the 13 May meeting. The head of the country’s delegation said that some Members had reservations about Lamy’s candidacy, and that these dissenting views had not been reflected in Mohamed’s statement. Sources report that these countries are primarily Latin American banana producers that had opposed Lamy’s efforts to replace the EU’s banana import quotas with what they saw as an overly high specific ‘per tonne’ tariff. Nonetheless, facing pressure from other Members to join the consensus, Costa Rica said that it would not veto his appointment.
ICTSD reporting; "Lamy’s last rival for WTO post withdraws," FINANCIAL TIMES, 14/15 May 2005; "WTO nominates Frenchman as leader," INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 14 May 2005; "Can Pascal Lamy deliver?", DECCAN HERALD, 16 May 2005; "WTO Members Unite Behind Lamy for D-G; Uruguayan Withdraws From Leadership Race," WTO REPORTER, 16 May 2005; "Lamy cautious on EU agricultural subsidies," BANGKOK POST, 16 May 2005