Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-07-Speech-3-223"
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"en.20080507.17.3-223"2
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"Mr President, firstly, let me add my congratulations to my friend and colleague, Glyn Ford, on what I think is an excellent report. I would also like to say to the Commission that I think the Commissioner was absolutely right a few years ago to launch studies into the prospect of a free-trade agreement with ASEAN and to act on those studies. Whilst, as others have said, ASEAN is already an important region for us economically, it is one of the regions where there is the greatest potential for growth if we really can achieve our free-trade objectives. Like Mr Šťastný, I agree that it was absolutely the right strategy to do this on a regional basis, despite all the complications that come with trying to do it this way.
Mr Ford’s report sends a clear and consistent message to the Commission: that Parliament wants to see a strong sustainable development chapter in all the new generation of free-trade agreements.
The report has many references to non-trade clauses which I am pleased to say are consistent with the line that I took in my own report on Korea, and in particular I am pleased that the report emphasises strong social and environmental clauses.
In my opinion it is important not only that the ASEAN members ratify the eight core ILO conventions, which only Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines have so far done, but also that we ensure that we put mechanisms in place to make sure they are properly enforced.
The role of trade unions and workers’ organisations should be more formalised, and I am pleased that the rapporteur has suggested the creation of a trade and sustainable development forum which can monitor standards and report on any violations.
In terms of environmental standards, the Trade Committee has highlighted in many of its recent reports – for example the Lipietz report on climate change or my own report on Korea – that international trade should facilitate the diffusion of environmentally-friendly technologies, and I again acknowledge the fact that Commissioner Mandelson has on many occasions shown his commitment to reducing tariffs on environmentally-friendly technologies, and I hope the Commissioner can therefore take on board the rapporteur’s suggestion to agree to this being part of the ASEAN negotiations.
Any violations of social and environmental standards must be subject to the standard dispute mechanism. Given that the US is committed to this approach for all their FTAs, Europe must achieve similarly strict enforcement measures.
Finally, let me just conclude by saying that, while I know we will not sign an FTA with Burma, I hope that Burma will not indirectly benefit from this agreement, because any expanded trade with the other ASEAN countries leads to the potential that Burma could expand its trade within the group and indirectly benefit from an EU free-trade agreement. So I hope we will look at ways of ensuring that trade sanctions against the current Burmese regime are enforced rigorously."@en1
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