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07/01/2005:
"'We should not be ashamed'"
An attack by Gordon Brown on the "hypocrisy" of Europe and other rich countries for pledging aid to Africa while imposing unfair trade barriers was today dismissed by the head of the EU's executive arm.In a sign of the gulf between Britain and many of its European partners on the eve of the G8 summit next week, Jose Manuel Barroso declared that the EU had nothing to be ashamed of because it had the world's most open markets to developing countries.
"Europe is the most open market to developing countries by far," the European commission president told Guardian Unlimited.
Speaking ahead of London talks with Tony Blair to mark the start of Britain's six month EU presidency today, Mr Barroso said: "We should not be ashamed - on the contrary.
"In terms of the access to our markets for the less developed countries, we have almost no quotas or tariffs - the so-called 'everything but arms' initiative. What I hope is to engage others in the developed world to be as open and generous."
Full: guardian.co.uk
They are all hypocrites and should all be ashamed, but they have no shame.