MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pascal Lamy, EU candidate for head of WTO

The European Commission decided Tuesday to formalize the candidacy of former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy as the future head of the World Trade Organization, WTO.

The next Pascal Lamy General will take the post as of September 2005, when the current WTO head Supachai Panitchpakdi from Thailand is due to stand down. "For the Commission, Peter Mandelson and Mr. Lamy talked about the subject and Mr. Mandelson has assured Mr. Lamy of his support", said the EC spokesperson Claude Veron-Reville.

"France will present Mr. Lamy's candidacy with European support", said French diplomatic sources. The official campaign for Mr. Panitchpakdi successor was launched this week and the list of candidates is due to be closed at the end of the month.

With a growing consensus that a successor must come from a developing country, three are the outstanding frontrunners, Brazil's Ambassador at WTO, Luis Felipe de Seixas Correa; Uruguayan Ambassador at WTO Carlos Perez del Castillo and Mauritius Foreign Affairs Minister Jayen Cuttaree.

In Montevideo, Uruguayan Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Opertti said Mr. Lamy is a candidacy from developed countries, but recalled that "Latinamerica and Africa are expecting to have one of their candidates as WTO head". "We acknowledge Mr. Lamy's personal and professional virtues; he was the main EC negotiator with Mercosur, but he is also identified with EU subsidies".

Mr. Opertti recalled that negotiations for a trade agreement with the EU "failed" and they are scheduled to continue next year, because the EU is reticent in the subsidies issue instead of supporting a more ample and long term sustainable agreement.

The next WTO head will follow a round of successive consultations by the organization's council that will extend until next May.