The European Union and the WTO Doha Round

The WTO Doha Round has initiated one of the most difficult agendas in trade deregulation. The opening of substantially agricultural markets and the liberalization of the service sector has shown to be one of the most controversial and sensitive fields in multilateral trade liberalization. The gaps between the different positions of the world trading partners are particularly pronounced in this area. This volume deals with the agenda of the Doha Round from the perspective of the European Union. Experts from academia, the European Commission, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank give an account of the agenda of the Doha Round and discuss the contentious interests of the EU and its trading partners. It is argued that the EU has a strong interest in the negotiations of the Doha Round, but faces potentially high adjustment requirements. On the one hand, enterprises in the EU press to gain market access to partner countries in a number of still protected manufacturing products and wish to access the rapidly growing service sector in developing countries, where the EU might be highly competitive. On the other hand, the liberalization in agricultural products intended by developing countries and the US are met with fierce resistance in Europe. Moreover, the contributions reveal that the WTO has to resolve fundamental constitutional problems and must reform its dispute settlement system.