madam president at a time when the world is seeing the most important financial crisis that has ever hit us we are looking at a failure so far on the doha round
it is of crucial importance
i have just spoken to baroness ashton or commissioner ashton as she is now and i do believe that she is taking us forward in a progressive and futuristic way
the financial crisis has to be underlined as has the need to deepen europe's relationships with its key partners including the new us administration but probably more importantly when the director-general pascal lamy is up for so-called re-election we will see whether or not he gets the post but there is a good chance that he will
we need more action and less rhetoric in this
brown has called for leaders to avoid putting up barriers to trade and investment during the times of economic crisis
this is crucial to the wto negotiations
the eu must not be dickensian in its approach to the way in which we approach trade
we must open our barriers
we must not put in place trade defence instruments
reform is only going to be successful on the grounds of a free market principle
that includes as i say open trade and investment
last week pascal lamy met with the g twenty to work with a proposal that will see a possibility of a settlement coming up in the short term
we hope to see something even before christmas
that is the way the commission sees it at the moment
i congratulate the previous commissioner and the present commissioner on their approach
the eu has led for the first time in the trade negotiations and must be congratulated
