Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-27-Speech-3-257"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2006-09-27"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:The EU's economic and trade relations with India (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20060927.21.3-257"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2006-09-27-Speech-3-2582
lpv:speaker	lp:Erika Mann2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, I would like to thank the Commissioner, and also thank the rapporteur for this excellent report, which touches on all the issues that are relevant when talking about India. The Commissioner mentioned one specific point to which I think we should give in-depth consideration, and that is that India might finally become a geopolitical centre in the 21st century. I think he is right about that and the European Union and the Commission will have to make up their minds. You cannot say ‘either India or China’; that is not the right approach. But we will certainly have to focus, because to deal with both countries and many more countries to come as regards bilateral agreements might be something that is impossible for the Commission whilst making sure that the multilateral round flourishes. So I would like to point out to the rapporteur and the House that my Group will be a little more cautious when it comes to a free-trade agreement. We are not against a free-trade agreement; quite the opposite. We already argued in favour of a free-trade agreement and regional agreement in 2002, when I presented my own report to this House, but I think we should first have an in-depth debate and discussion on the issue. The Commission will produce its new policy report on 4 October, in only a few weeks. So we will not support a free-trade agreement at the moment, because we want to have a debate in our Group first and we want to be clear that Parliament will be fully involved in the debate and the consultation process. It is important and relevant to see a shift from the multilateral to the more bilateral agreement and to make sure that there is some coherence when it comes to trade policy. That is one of the reasons why tomorrow we are not going to support the idea of a free-trade agreement at this stage. I am happy also that Mr Karim touched on the various high-tech issues. I think it is absolutely essential that we focus more on India and cooperate more closely with it. Now, everything I said is not on behalf of Glyn Ford, who is the shadow rapporteur. He apologises to Mr Karim for not being here. He has to go back to England, but he will certainly follow up the issues and discuss them in detail."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; Delegation for relations with the United States (2004-09-15--2007-03-13)3 substitute; ITRE (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 member; Conference of Delegation Chairs (2004-09-22--2009-07-13)3 member; INTA (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 chair; Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-22--2009-07-13)3 substitute; CONT (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 member; PES (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 unknown; Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Erika Mann,"1 "on behalf of the PSE Group"1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph