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This pamphlet focuses on a currently much debated topic between rich countries and developing countries – the relationship between trade and climate change. The transport sector alone is responsible for a third of total greenhouse gas emissions. The EU’s trade policy must therefore pay special attention to this problem and we must launch a dialogue with our partners on how to resolve it.
We certainly do not wish to curb the opening-up of trade and we understand the fears of developing countries that measures might be unfair or hard for them to bear. What we do want is for trade to be regulated and defined jointly, since it is our common interest as inhabitants of the same planet that is at stake.
We would like EU trade policy to be consistent with its environmental policy and with the international efforts being made in this area. It is calling for the Kyoto Protocols to be ratified by all countries, in particular the United States; but it is also calling for an ambitious post-Kyoto agreement involving the entire international community, including developing countries. In our view, WTO rules must be clearly subject to the requirements of the Convention on Climate Change.