EU-DIGEST: Mrs. Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission speaks at the University of Miami

EU-DIGEST

Miami, April 6, Some 150 students and a small number of invited guests listened attentively as Mrs. Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission passionately lectured on the urgency of reversing the unsustainable trends we are seeing in Europe and around the world. "The EU is the largest provider of Overseas Development assistance and it wants to honor the commitment made in Mexico to reach 0.39% of GDP in development assistance", said Mrs.Wallström. "But, despite our status as the world's largest donor, we were unable to convince the G77 group of developing countries to join us on several of the key sustainability challenges. On several issues,they preferred to side with the US. "The probable reason", said Mrs.Wallström, "is that it is difficult for a country to start cutting down on pollution emissions when it sees some of the industrialized nations with much higher levels of pollution doing very little in bringing these levels down. Mrs. Wallström noted that the EU has consistently advocated that there should be a close link between the Implementation Plan and the new partnerships for sustainable development. This has been recognized even though the EU would have liked a clearer follow-up mechanisms and guiding principles for partnerships. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is now serving as the focal point for future discussion of partnerships, including sharing lessons learned, progress made and best practices. "In fifty years time, nine billion people will live on the planet and world output will quadruple, said Mrs. Wallstrom, "and it is clear that unless we cut the link between economic growth and the degradation of the environment, we will simply not be able to sustain ourselves." On globalization, Mrs. Wallstrom suggested the role of trade for sustainable development must be better defined,for example by encouraging trade in environmentally friendly and organic products from developing countries and by strengthening international action for corporate responsibility. The interesting presentation was concluded by an animated 30 minute question and answer period.

As we listened to the fascinating speech by Mrs. Wallström, the VP of the EU, we could not help but compare her to Dick Cheney, the US VP, if he would be giving the same speech at the same location. We quickly came to the conclusion that Mrs. Wallström would win this contest hands down, given the circumstances. Could anyone imagine dragging Mr. Cheney up three flights of stairs to a University conference room and have him give a speech to 150 university students, without a EU/US flag proudly displayed, press handouts, and significant TV and Press coverage. Or what Mr. Cheney would do to his staff if invited guests had to return to their home or office, because the invitation to his event had no clear instructions on how to get there --and if those who were able to figure it out could not find a parking space in overcrowded parking lots.