I guess I'll never get used to the way the Europeans depict their revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, driven by the Union's enlargement process, as a concession in the Doha round. The French Ministers of trade and agriculture repeated it several times at a press conference a few minutes ago - one of the few scheduled press conferences at this Ministerial so far. It doesn't sound any more convincing in French.
In any case, beyond the posturing on agriculture and Geographical Indications, probably largely meant for the French press, the interesting point mentioned was a proposal apparently made a couple of days ago by France together with Brazil about the regulation of the global market for agricultural land. I haven't seen the proposal and don't know in which forum it has been made (WTO or otherwise).
Whatever it is, it relates to this phenomenon: millions of hectares being purchased by countries like China and Saudi Arabia, that are concerned about their food security. Theoretically, I wonder if this could be a WTO issue, if only because it could influence international trade in agricultural products (not to mention biofeuls), or through the backdoor of agricultural services. Regardless, this is clearly a very complex issue as far as development is concerned, worthy of research.
On another level, given the history of colonialism, I wonder why it should be France, or Europe at all that is bearing the flag on this issue. When they wanted land in Africa, they didn't even pay for it.
