Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-13-Speech-4-039"
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"en.20071213.5.4-039"2
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"Mr President, this report had to be put together rather quickly, because we anticipated – we even hoped – that the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Korea might be concluded by the end of this year. That is clearly not going to be the case but, nevertheless, we are pleased that Parliament is able to report today and we hope, through our report today, that we will be able to influence the Commission’s position.
To get to where we are today, some of my colleagues had to work extremely hard, and I would like to thank Christopher Ford from the Trade Committee and Emmanuelle Le Texier from the PSE Group, who worked above and beyond the normal call of duty to get this report prepared in time. I would also like to thank Commissioner Mandelson and his services for the good cooperation I have had from the Commission in producing this report, and also the Korean Ambassador, whose assistance enabled me to get an insight into the Korean position on these negotiations.
Historically, free trade agreements between the European Union and Asian countries have been trade-light, despite their name. I think this could be the exception to the rule. Korea has shown a willingness and an ability to negotiate a far-reaching and comprehensive bilateral trade agreement.
Korea is a significant player in the region in Asia. It is now a wealthy country, the 11th largest economy in the world. Its per capita income is comparable to Spain. It is an economy that is growing quickly, and trade between our two regions – between Korea and the European Union – reached EUR 60 billion last year. So it is a deal worth doing, and, if we can get it right, I think it is a win-win situation. The Korean manufacturing industry, for example, can win through access to European services, enabling Korean manufacturing to expand and to compete more favourably. We can win, through access to the Korean market for some of our key goods and services.
The timetable, as I mentioned, was originally set for conclusion by the end of this year. It now realistically looks like May next year will be the earliest negotiations can be concluded, but I am encouraged that, after five rounds of negotiations, talks seem to be getting down to the nitty gritty and seem to be getting serious. There are clearly still significant gaps between the European Union position on issues like country-of-origin labelling, technical standards for the automobile industry and on tariff concessions for goods. But the key point is that negotiations are now being conducted at a serious and detailed level.
My main concerns come in the field of, firstly, social and environmental standards. Even with this delay, the Korean agreement looks like being the first of the new generation of FTAs that we agree. As such, it can be a template for further FTAs, and I would like to see our ambitions in relation to environmental and social standards raised. I would like to ensure that there is a dispute settlement mechanism in the Agreement. I do not believe that we should settle for anything less than the United States have settled for, and they have got a dispute settlement mechanism in their report. I believe issues like ratification of key ILO conventions and the post-2012 application of any new climate change agreement cannot be left to mere gentlemen’s agreements or simply encouraging people to do things. We have to actually have some mechanism for settling disputes. I hope the Commission will look at this again.
I also want to argue that the Kaesong Industrial Complex should be looked at sympathetically in relation to such an agreement. I accept the Commission’s approach that, firstly, we have to get the Free Trade Agreement; but if we can get the FTA, before signature we should look at how we can assist South Korea in terms of encouraging North Korea to come into the real world. The Kaesong Industrial Complex, based in North Korea but run by South Korean companies, is a way of engaging North Korea with the rest of the world, and it is a process that we should be encouraging. I believe that, through our trade agreement, we can do much to assist South Korea in this process. It is not just a matter of interest for South Korea but it is a matter of interest for the world. It makes the world a safer place if North and South Korea can cooperate.
I believe this is an important free trade agreement. I believe it is one that both the EU and Korea can win if we get the right deal. I support the Commission’s view that we should not rush to a settlement, and that a good settlement is better late than a bad settlement that we get early. I hope, when Korea changes president at the beginning of next year, that the new president will instruct his administration to work tirelessly to reach this agreement before the summer."@en1
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