Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

These issues will not go away.

On the Minister of State's reference to the EPA negotiations between the EU and developing countries, in many cases the EU was seeking more than originally envisaged. That approach was rejected in the initial WTO talks. The developing countries, particularly those in Africa, sought time, flexibility and exemptions for developments they wished to provide by way of universal availability, such as those in the area of education. We heard today that anything conceded in agriculture will come about at the price of concessions on services and being obliged to open markets quickly. That starkly contradicts what was offered by the EU Development Ministers and what the Minister of State said. His contribution contained the suggestion that there will be an opportunity for countries to be flexible and respond slowly to their markets. That is not what the Commissioner stated. The NAMA condition is a fundamental demand concerning the reciprocity the Commission is seeking from developing countries. It is unreal and will lead to the rejection and failure of the talks, and rightly so, because no developing country could accept it as it stands.

There is a raft of other issues I could discuss. I welcome the expansion of our aid and also the thinking of the European Union. However, its thinking on Doha and Palestine and its silence in the international legal atmosphere in which it is working is quite appalling. The European Union has no credibility among those who are seriously concerned about justice and law in the Middle East. The volume of the Union's money is welcome, as are its development workers, but its silence and disgraceful following of the United States in removing aid from the Palestinian people will be long-remembered, and rightly so.

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