Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-10-Speech-2-455"
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"en.20070710.60.2-455"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, at a time when the European Commission has begun talks with China with a view to a new partnership and cooperation agreement, Parliament’s Committee on International Trade feels a duty to draw the attention of the Community executive to some well-known issues, which characterise relations with the Asian giant.
China has a right to economic growth and development, which equates to well-being for its citizens, which also constitutes an opportunity for the world economy. This should not take place, however, at the expense of compliance with the rules of international trade, of what has been agreed within legitimate forums and of what China accepted when it entered the WTO, otherwise the consequences for its economic partners, starting with Europe, could be disastrous, as they could for Chinese citizens themselves.
The talks with China are the most appropriate opportunity for tackling these issues bilaterally. We need to find a way to tackle the issue of insufficient protection of human rights and inadequate environmental, social and safety standards. Nobody is expecting China to achieve our levels, but to gradually achieve more acceptable standards. We need to act as ‘exporting fathers’ to improve access to the European Union market by means of the gradual removal of non-tariff barriers and, more generally, of administrative obstacles of various kinds that very often discourage businesses, especially small ones, from investing in China, and we need to take a firmer position on combating counterfeiting.
The Chinese Government must do its part and show political will and take effective action to combat a phenomenon that concerns a large number of businesses, and especially consumers, worldwide. Above all, food-related counterfeiting, which has recently been an increasing problem, deserves the greatest attention because it affects the health of ignorant and defenceless citizens who trust in the appearance of labels. This battle against counterfeiting and forgery must involve both the European authorities and the Chinese Government.
On these three aspects we expect the Commission, in the course of the talks that Parliament will follow with the utmost attention, to adopt a firm approach that will lead to clear and unequivocal results for our entrepreneurs, our consumers and also for Chinese citizens, because by ‘well-being’ we mean not only European well-being but also the well-being of Chinese citizens."@en1
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