Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-041"
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".
Mr President, the issue of textiles and clothing after 2005 in many ways marks the demonstration of a new era in world trade practices and the growing strength of emerging economies. This new era is one that belongs to the innovative, those with relevant knowledge and those who are able to recognise changing world climates and adapt accordingly.
There are many well-rehearsed arguments setting out the current difficulties that we are facing in the textiles sector here in the European Union. Whether they are that, as a continent, we simply were not prepared for 1 January 2005, or that the Chinese state involvement in the production processes of its manufacturers distorts true market competition, it is certain that the experience we are having today with textiles will, in time, prove not to be unique. Indeed, I just read a report in
newspaper this morning that sets out details of the first round of imports of 4x4 vehicles from China, at a price that I cannot see any current suppliers ever being able to match in the EU. That is the extent of the competition that we are now facing.
We must recognise that the economic world order is now changing at a pace as never seen before. That creates for us many managerial challenges at EU level and it is here that we, as an institution, must do all that we can to empower our entrepreneurs with knowledge so that they may continue to compete and lead the field in our areas of expertise.
It is not desirable that management of the sort that we have recently had to endure through negotiations with the Chinese should happen again with any of our competing partners. The Commission was right to take the steps that it did, but that is no long-term solution. Our experience should widen our vision, strengthen our position, so that we may seize the opportunities that lie within the management challenges that we face.
I represent a constituency with a long history of leading in the textiles trade. The cotton mills of Lancashire helped form the backbone of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom. Much of that has changed over the years. Mills that once employed thousands now employ in the very low hundreds. That change started in the 1980s, when changing conditions demanded computer-generated production processes and the longer-term efficiencies that they produce.
It was unfortunate in Lancashire that the management of the process was not provided at a governmental level, and many valued and skilled people found themselves with redundant skills overnight. The vision, lack of provision of knowledge to empower and innovation was not catered for at a national level. The new changing circumstances that we face must not be allowed to be a repetition of that experience, but rather a window in which we evolve our industry.
The report, as finalised by the Committee on International Trade, is one that I am able to recommend to this House. I congratulate the rapporteur."@en1
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