Pascal Lamy Stays the Course

On October 7, in the framework of his on-going remarks on the current financial situation, Pascal Lamy, the WTO Director-General, sponsored the establishment of a new international “highway code” to ward off future financial crises. “What happened was an accident in the poorly regulated segment of US finance, causing first a bottleneck and followed by a pile-up” explained Lamy in an interview on the French radio France Inter the day after the wide-ranging fall of international banks. “Today, our highway code must be international and global,” he added in agreement with the IMF and World Bank directors.

Nonetheless, it is startling to see the WTO General-Director call for the regulation of an industry where a laissez-faire market approach is best justified––banking and finance for instance––whereas concerning agriculture––a sector equally affected by the crisis and whose particular character logically rationalize a specific regime––Lamy continues his plea to dismantle the last regulation tools.

Of course, we do share Pascal Lamy’s proposal to initiate a new highway code in the financial sector and in the mandates of existing international institutions. On the other hand, considering that the negative aftermath is the same in the agricultural sector and that risks incurred by the international community are as serious, we think it is crucial not to adopt a double standard: a similar methodology must be applied to agriculture and WTO must be at the top of the list of institutions that need reforms, whether its Director-General agrees or not.