WRITTEN QUESTION E-2661/99 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission. Developing countries and world trade.
C 374 E/8 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 (2000/C 374 E/008) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2661/99 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission (12 January 2000) Subject: Developing countries and world trade Given that most developing countries do not have the human resources and technical capacity to manage is the the existing WTO agenda and are not participating in the voluntary GPA Working Group, Commission providing any kind of support that would enable developing countries to participate in this debate? (2000/C 374 E/009) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2662/99 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission (12 January 2000) Subject: Impact of procurement liberalisation on developing countries Has the Commission produced any studies that illustrate the impact of procurement liberalisation on developing countries? If not, does it intend to do so? (2000/C 374 E/010) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2663/99 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission (12 January 2000) Subject: Public procurement liberalisation Is it a correct understanding of the EU negotiating mandate that the EU intends to introduce public procurement liberalisation into the next WTO round? If so, how does the Commission intend to square this objective with its commitment to developing countries, particularly in Article 178 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which states that its external policies should be coherent and should not undermine efforts to assist developing countries. Given this legal obligation, how does the Commission believe that procurement liberalisation will benefit poor countries? Joint answer to Written Questions E-2661/99, E-2662/99 and E-2663/99 given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission (8 February 2000) Money spent on government procurement (not including defence purchasing) accounts for at least 10-15 % of gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries. The fact that there are no multilateral rules governing how this money is spent means that governments are able to maintain procurement policies and practices which are discriminatory and trade distortive. Opaque and/or discriminatory procurement procedures adversely affect the longer term development objectives of countries because they are subsidising uncompetitive industries and creating an environment conducive to corruption and bribery. This is backed up by empirical research which has been carried out by other countries and organisations. In addition, the trade liberalising effect achieved by the World trade