COMMONWEALTH: The Aftermath Will Tell, If There Is One

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

VALLETTA, Malta, Nov 27 2005 (IPS) - How much the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Malta achieved – or did not – could be known better in Barcelona than in could be in Valletta.

Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who had chaired the summit left immediately at the end of it for the conference of Euro-Mediterranean leaders that began later in Barcelona Sunday. He would take the message from the Commonwealth from this summit to the next, Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon told media representatives.

McKinnon said that in response to a thorny question hanging over the summit since the Commonwealth came up with a statement urging the European Union to follow the U.S. example towards a bolder initiative on trade than it has on offer.

The question for Gonzi, as indeed for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is whether they will now stick by the Commonwealth statement to which they became a party in Valletta, or with the EU position that they are a part of. As things stand, the two positions are not just irreconcilable, but in direct conflict. Britain, Malta and Cyprus, all members of the EU and also of the Commonwealth, have signed up to both.

How will the EU members square the circle, Gonzi was asked.

The Commonwealth and the EU are separate organisations working under separate rules, Gonzi said, and so ”there is no question of squaring the circle.” As he put it, what is said at one is not necessarily linked to what is done at another.

McKinnon said Gonzi is ”capable of explaining the Commonwealth thinking” to other EU leaders. But with no suggestion that he is expected to take a stand within the EU that is consistent with the position taken by the Commonwealth. The most Gonzi could do for the Commonwealth, it seems, would be as reporter, not as leader.

The Commonwealth statement on trade released Saturday said: ”We note the offer on agriculture made by the United States of America and express the hope that the European Union and others who maintain high levels of agricultural protection respond in the same spirit.”

The Commonwealth has no clout with the EU, and the Commonwealth is not even looking for clout, McKinnon said. ”For every one dollar the Commonwealth gets, the EU gets 500,” he said. ”We are in a totally different league.”

All the Commonwealth can do, he said, is to ”show the way forward on a number of issues that some of the other countries should take need of.” And on trade, he said the Commonwealth ”hopes that the EU makes progress.”

The world should take heed of the Commonwealth, the heads of government said in their communique, because ”we, the heads of government of the Commonwealth represent one quarter of the world’s governments, one-third of the world’s population and one-fifth of global trade. Our membership is diverse: our 53 members include some of the poorest and wealthiest as well as some of the smallest and largest states in the world, and we represent every continent and ocean on the globe.”

The Commonwealth is a grouping of countries that were once a part of the British Empire. Among the members are Britain, Canada, India, Australia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and Malaysia. A large number of members are small island states in the Pacific and the Caribbean with a population only in thousands.

But the Commonwealth is more convinced it should be heeded than other countries. A draft agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was released in Geneva Saturday as the Commonwealth heads of government were talking at their Golden Sands resort in Malta. Nobody thought of consulting the Commonwealth before releasing the draft document in Geneva. The Commonwealth is only hoping someone will look at it now.

Ambitious proposals at the start of the conference for a Commonwealth free trade zone fell flat. A free trade zone was recommended by businessmen at a Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) summit earlier in the week, but found little support from the heads of government meeting later.

McKinnon said that what was agreed instead was that he would head a group that would ”see what Commonwealth countries can do together that would give them greater economic capacity.”

The Barcelona summit presents an immediate opportunity, as McKinnon saw it. Trade and financial issues will be on the agenda at the meeting that brings together the 25 EU members plus Turkey, Israel, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

These are not Commonwealth countries, but the Commonwealth has taken a stand on the EU stand on trade that could be brought up at the Barcelona summit. So, count the number of times you hear the word ‘Commonwealth’ in Barcelona – it might not turn out to be such a hard task after all.