Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-048"
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"en.20050707.5.4-048"2
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"Mr President, important as this debate is, it pales into insignificance when compared with the atrocious terrorist attacks in my capital city today. I would like to join, I am sure in the name of all in this House, in utterly condemning that terrorism and in expressing condolence and sympathy to those who have been injured and killed.
We live in an age where terror seems to know no bounds. Coming from Northern Ireland, where we alas have known much of that in our history, one’s heart goes out to the people affected by this morning’s terrible events.
Turning to this subject, Northern Ireland, like many parts of Europe, once boasted a vibrant and large textile industry. Today it is reduced to all but nothing, with thousands upon thousands of job losses. Since trade policy was foolishly handed over to the exclusive competence of the EU, the plain truth is that Member States are powerless to act in the face of cheap imports ravaging their textile industry.
The plain truth is also that the EU has failed the textile industry. The abolition of import quotas on 1 January 2005 has, in the UK and elsewhere, caused soaring imports, especially from China. Whereas we are denied import quotas, China’s state owned factories benefit from export subsidies, state aid and even free electricity, as well as the benefits of its artificially undervalued currency. Little wonder that we cannot compete.
Commissioner Mandelson’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties on certain synthetic fabrics is welcome so far as it goes, but often such fabrics are then further processed in China to give them added value, thereby avoiding the anti-dumping duties. For example, a synthetic fibre that might be subject to that duty is given added value by making it into a roller blind, whereby it escapes the anti-dumping duty and is dumped in the EU at ridiculous prices. That loophole must be closed.
Generally, the Commission needs to be much more robust with China than it has been hitherto."@en1
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