
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993                   TAG: 9312120071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: E-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM                                LENGTH: Medium

EC CHIEFS UNITE AGAINST HOLLYWOOD IN TRADE TALKS

European Community leaders Saturday united in a standoff with the United States in world trade talks, but bickered over ways to compensate farmers and other workers hurt by a new trade deal.

At the end of a two-day summit, the 12 leaders also agreed on a sweeping plan to pull their economies out of recession by beginning to pare back their extensive welfare systems. But they fought over how to fund the program.

Backing France, the nations declared their movie industry needs "exceptional and separate treatment" to protect it against Hollywood in the 116-nation world trade talks.

"The defense of our civilization is at stake - the Americans have to understand that," said Belgian Foreign Minister Willy Claes.

The summit was held while world trade negotiations were in their final stretch at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva. The talks are due to end Wednesday - the last day President Clinton can notify Congress of a trade accord under legislation barring the lawmakers from attaching amendments that could kill the deal.

The EC summit's final session took twice as long as expected because the leaders argued about French demands for compensation if their farmers are hurt by subsidy cuts in a recent U.S.-EC deal. The accord was needed to restart the stalled global talks.

Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, who hosted the summit, insisted the U.S.-EC subsidy arrangement would not crimp French farmers, but he promised "the member states will take measures" if he is proved wrong.

But British Prime Minister John Major said the trading bloc's budget would not be increased to help the farmers.

Portugal insisted on protection for its ailing textile industry from any market-opening measures in a GATT accord that would allow more Asian imports into Europe.

The leaders broadly supported a plan by EC Commission President Jacques Delors to revive the flagging EC economy and get many of the 17 million unemployed, or 11 percent of the work force, back to work by the end of the decade.

But they bashed his idea of floating $8.8 billion in bonds to upgrade Europe's transportation and communication networks.

Delors' main recommendations are for increased investment in technologies of the future, improved education and targeted training to stop the growth of long-term unemployment, support for more jobs in services and more deregulation.

by CNB