Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-190"
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"en.20060314.24.2-190"2
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"Commissioner, EU history where anti-dumping is concerned is scary. Well-organised special interests are allowed again and again to impose customs duties in their pursuit of small profits, which turn into large costs for consumers.
When the Commission introduced customs duties on TV sets, consumers had to pay SEK 2.00 for every krona earned by the industry. In the case of the duties on bed linen from Pakistan, every krona that went to the manufacturers cost consumers SEK 3.00. In the case of Norwegian salmon, matters were even worse: every krona earned by the salmon producers cost consumers as much as SEK 70.00. The Commission is therefore failing to take sufficient account of consumers and, thus, of Community interests.
Now, the process has begun of making the same mistake once more – in connection with shoes from China and Vietnam – but this time we know the cost of the policy in advance. The Danish Government conducted a study showing that the costs to consumers in the EU was eight times greater than manufacturers’ profits and that, in total, the EU was losing more than SEK 2.5 billion.
For Sweden, the figure is even more appalling. Each krona earned by Swedish manufacturers costs Swedish consumers SEK 44.00. In total, Swedish consumers can count on paying almost SEK 60 million more for their shoes. The only EU country in which the business is estimated to be profitable is Slovakia, where SEK 300 000 is estimated to be earned. It would be cheaper if we in the European Parliament were to pool our money, in that way preventing people from having to pay duties.
To be honest, I do not believe that that would be a mistake. In spite of everything, the Commission has consciously chosen to make comparisons with expensive shoes from Brazil and measured the increase in imports before the quota was abolished against that after the quota was abolished. Not a single factory has been given market economy status, in spite of its being acknowledged that factories buy leather and labour in a way that is adjusted to conditions in the market. I am seriously concerned about the increasing protectionism I encounter in the EU, and I hope that this is the last time the Commission gives way to the demands of protectionists at the expense of citizens."@en1
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