Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-173"
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"en.20020925.7.3-173"2
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"Madam President, with regard to the systems of preferences referred to many times in the course of the debate, I would say that all the participating Mercosur states can benefit from the EU’s generalised system of preferences. Particularly through the GSP’s generalised systems, they can, as Mr Barón Crespo mentioned, be given the opportunity to increase their own export income, promote industrialisation in their own countries and speed up the diversification of their economies as a stability tool.
Everyone here must be alert to the fact that the members of the international financial bodies, namely the Bretton Woods institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are sovereign states unto themselves. They are not subject to the dictates of the European Council or to joint decision-making by the European Council. It is therefore up to these states themselves, and not to the Council, to decide how they are to conduct themselves in these international financial bodies.
It is nonetheless clear that coordination between the EU Member States in relation to Article 19 of the EU Treaty may be of benefit to their work in these institutions. Accordingly, there is in actual fact a degree of informal coordination at intergovernmental level within the framework of the institutions I mentioned.
With regard to the Member States’ efforts to remedy the situation in the Mercosur countries, they are participating fully and actively in the IMF’s work to secure stability and sustainable economic growth in the region. It would be foolish to do otherwise. The arrangements made to support Paraguay, Uruguay and, most recently, Brazil have received backing from the EU Member States, and work is being done on securing a strong, sustainable and credible IMF programme for Argentina, as outlined in the Council’s conclusions of 21 January 2002.
In his question on behalf of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, Mr Barón Crespo states that the negotiations concerning the association and free-trade agreement with Mercosur are expected to be concluded in 2003. The parties have not set any deadline for the conclusion of the negotiations, the date’s depending therefore upon how the negotiations progress. In July, the negotiators at ministerial level adopted an ambitious work programme for the next twelve months. The European Union has undertaken to reach a comprehensive agreement with Mercosur and make further progress in the negotiations.
Allow me therefore to conclude that the Council is fully alert to the serious crisis in the Mercosur countries, especially Argentina. It is absolutely right that it should be taken seriously. We are therefore interested in strengthening relations between the EU and Mercosur and promoting trade, and we also had a meeting with them during the General Assembly in New York last week. First of all, everyone here must be aware of the need to go home and say to our own governments that they themselves must work in the IMF on behalf of the institutions and say to the Mercosur countries that, first of all, they themselves must implement the financial changes."@en1
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