Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-214"
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"en.20000614.9.3-214"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by warmly endorsing a couple of the remarks made by the honourable Member, Mr Westendorp – which, I am sure, is always a sensible way of beginning a speech in a debate in Parliament.
The first exploratory talks on China's technical assistance needs and the respective roles and intentions of various donors will take place shortly through direct contacts in Peking and on the fringe of the WTO working party on the accession of China next week.
I just want to repeat that this is an extremely important issue; it is an issue on which Commissioner Lamy and I have already begun discussions. We want to keep Parliament fully informed about our plans, but I am absolutely certain that, having made this extremely important breakthrough, it is now very important to give as much technical help as possible to ensure that it has the results in China and, therefore, for the rest of the region and the world that all of us hope for and would like to see.
First, I should like to endorse in the most glowing terms possible the encomium that he delivered to my colleague, Commissioner Lamy, for the way he conducted these negotiations. I have had some experience of negotiating with China myself and I have to say that I am lost in admiration for Commissioner Lamy's achievement. I should like, as he did with characteristic generosity, to say that all of us should also pay tribute to his predecessor, Sir Leon Brittan, who helped to get these negotiations up and running, even though they had to travel several more laps than he thought likely at the time.
Second, I entirely agree with what the honourable Member said about the importance of the outcome of these negotiations. This agreement is very good for China and Europe; it is good for the Asian region and for the world and, as we saw, it almost certainly had a beneficial effect on the vote in the US Congress. It is good news all round. It will be a challenge for China and, in due course, for the WTO. However, it has always seemed to me that it is something of a misnomer to talk about a World Trade Organisation which has not contained the representatives of between a fifth and a quarter of humanity. This is a good news story.
I want to deal with the two questions which the chairman of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy has raised. First, the question about Parliament's assent. Commissioner Lamy has already had an opportunity to set out in the plenary of this House in March the view of the Commission that China's WTO accession is a trade agreement of major importance and, therefore, that it is exactly the type of agreement that would be submitted for Parliament's assent, were the Commission proposals for the IGC to be accepted. However, at this stage these are just proposals. We obviously cannot anticipate the results of the IGC, so we have to stick to current Treaty rules. As Parliament knows, the China agreement does not fit any of the categories of Article 300(3) that would justify submission for assent. The agreement will, however, in principle, be submitted for consultation, so the European Parliament will have ample opportunity to express its views on the agreement. Of course, it is the Council that decides on consultation with the European Parliament. This is as far as the legal and the institutional answer goes.
On a more political and pragmatic level, I can assure the House that the Commission will work with the European Parliament to ensure that it can make its voice heard. The House will know that, in exemplary fashion, Commissioner Lamy has held several rounds of discussions with Members of this Parliament during the final phases of the negotiations with China. I know that he debriefed Members right after the agreement was initialled: he phoned the honourable Member to inform him that he had finalised the agreement. I can assure the House that he intends to continue this dialogue throughout the internal approval procedures of the European Union. It is an indication of that old truth that being more transparent invariably means being more successful.
At this stage I should like to add, however, that on 19 May we only concluded – a point made by the presidency – our bilateral agreement with China on her terms of accession to the WTO. The multilateral phase of China's accession that takes place in Geneva has still to be finalised. This is not expected to happen before the end of September at the earliest. In other words, whatever procedures will apply within the European Union regarding China's WTO accession, the issue is really only relevant after the multilateral phase has been concluded, because the approval procedures will start only after this date.
Second, I want to come to the extremely important point which the honourable Member raised about technical assistance to help China to implement its WTO obligations. We have in the Commission five cooperation programmes in China, which total EUR 25 million. They are either in place or will be implemented soon. They include a framework programme which aims to strengthen the relevant Chinese administrative structures and capacities through a series of specialised modules targeting segments in the Chinese administration which will be dealing with WTO implementation. Other programmes are geared towards helping China to implement specific WTO obligations. We are currently considering how best to build on these, and new initiatives will be taken. China's WTO accession and the related considerable needs for technical assistance are likely to generate significant interest from other donors, including the United States and Japan, but also from our own Member States and from the WTO secretariat. Clearly, close coordination is going to be essential in order to avoid overlaps and to develop synergies between different programmes which each donor will implement in accordance with its own procedures.
The need for coordination will be especially strong where assistance is targeted at the implementation of specific WTO agreements, and we will support close involvement of the WTO in these areas.
As regards the question of coordination with the United States, we will certainly look very carefully at our options. We have to bear in mind that this will have some effects on the visibility of our European efforts."@en1
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