Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation

7 March 2013, Brussels, 13:00 - 14:30

The WTO proved to be essential to avoid a return to protectionist temptations. However, the multilateral free trade system is called into question by the current economic crisis - and its serious social consequences - and by the proliferation of preferential trade agreements resulting from the Doha Round paralysis. Is this the beginning of a new era of protectionism or the emergence of an alternative system consistent and compatible with the WTO rules? Has the EU abdicated its role of multilateral free trade promoter to follow the path of competitive liberalisation? 

A Citizen’s Controversy with Ditte Juul-Joergensen, Director for WTO, legal affairs and trade in goods, DG Trade, European Commission, and Roderick Abbott, Member of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE).  

The debate was moderated by Alexander Schaub, former European Commission Official.  

 Report