EU summit
EU thinks about WTO replacement
The WTO is intended to regulate global trade and reduce obstacles. The dispute settlement no longer works. Now there is a new idea.
In the European Union, a replacement for the now largely incapable of action is considered. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen brought a “redesign” of the organization into the game at the EU summit in Brussels, which was founded in 1995 to reduce global trade barriers. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) even spoke of a “new kind of trade organization” that could gradually replace “what we no longer have with the WTO today”.
“An idea at the very beginning”
The CDU chairman means mechanisms for setting up trade disputes. The European Commission could establish such mechanisms for new EU trade agreements, said Merz. He had already spoken to the idea of the French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister Keir Strander. “It’s an idea at the very beginning,” he said. “But if the WTO is as unable to function as it has been for years and remains obvious, then we have to think of something else as the one who considers free trade.”
From the Leyen sees the first approaches
Of the Leyen said that the cooperation of the transacific partnership CPTPP with the European Union could be a start for the redesign of the WTO with its currently more than 166 Member States. “Of course, taking into account what should be reformed in the WTO for a positive way,” she added. So one can show the world “that free trade with a large number of countries is possible on a regular basis”.
The WTO has been suffering from increasing protectionism, outdated rules and the blockade of its appeal body for years. Reforms have so far failed due to the disagreement of the members.
dpa
Source: Stern
