EU backs Lamy for WTO’s top post

The European Commission endorsed former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Tuesday as a candidate to head the World Trade Organisation (WT...

The European Commission endorsed former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Tuesday as a candidate to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and said he had broad support of the bloc’s 25 member states.

EU’s preliminary backing for the French Socialist puts him in a race for the coveted seat which may include an Uruguayan, a Brazilian and a Mauritian.

Lamy is credited with helping keep WTO’s Doha round of trade liberalisation negotiations on track and driving reform of the EU’s hugely expensive farm subsidies regime.

Story continues below this

Diplomats said Lamy had made it clear that he had the support from the US, whose Trade Representative Robert Zoellick developed a close working relationship with the European commissioner despite a transatlantic trade feud.

Supachai Panitchpakdi is due to stand down as WTO Director-General at the end of August, 2005.

Although Supachai has nine months to serve his three-year term, WTO is anxious to avoid the acrimony that the selection process generated last time and has given itself plenty of time to make a choice.

— Reuters