- Say: S-U-B-S-I-D-I-E-E-E-E-E-S!

European leaders are gathered for one day in the UK to informally (yeah, right!) debate the "economic challenges posed by globalisation", reporting BBC. Needless to say, the word "globalisation" has become semantically polymorphous as politicians handily reaches to this conceptual dustbin when they need to divert public attention from pressing domestic concerns. Nevertheless, the EU actually faces several big challenges from globalisation, but the most contentious - and arguably the most important - issue is the Union's generous agricultural subsidies to European farmers, called the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The ongoing Doha round in the WTO deals with exactly these questions, and the developed countries are getting more and more cornered: "Developed countries must cut their highest farm tariffs by 75 percent if the world's poorest nations are to benefit from a World Trade Organization attempt to liberalize agricultural trade", experts at the World Bank said on Wednesday. For a heterogeneous group as the EU (who has offered to cut subsidies by 50 percent) the disparate views on tariff cuts is likely to spark hefty debates, informal or not.

Moreover, the Doha round has to be completed on time. Delays means the certain death of the talks given that the US president's so-called fast-track authority to negotiate and firm trade agreements expires early in 2006. Observing Mr. Bush's dismal performance and ditto approval ratings it seems a sure bet that the lame-duck president won't obtain a renewed fast-track authority. Furthermore, recalling the US Senate's protectionist and localist inclinations the likelihood for any Doha agreement to pass the necessary legislation resembles the survival odds of a snowball in hell.

The case of Norwegian farmers and the center-left government is another case of concern which requiers separate treatment, though. Perhaps I'll return to that matter in a subsequent post.