Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-02-Speech-1-083"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20090202.14.1-083"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, I shall try to address briefly the concerns that Members have raised.
Mr Assis, protecting our interests, not protectionism, is absolutely right. There is a fundamental difference that we have to be clear about, and we have to make sure of protecting the work force in all of this.
On agriculture, as I said, it is critically important to make sure that we are able to develop our industries. This is about food production, and it is very important in the Doha round. My colleague Mariann Fischer Boel has worked very hard to make sure that the European position on agriculture is secure. It forms a fundamental basis for all the work that I do in our bilateral, regional and multilateral talks to make sure that the best opportunities are provided to protect all of our agriculture in the future.
As for the fermentation industry, Mr Rübig, I understand these issues are currently being discussed, but I will be more than happy to come back to you with specifics.
Finally, on small and medium-sized enterprises, Mr Siekierski, it is very important that we are protecting our small businesses. I am working closely with Günter Verheugen to get enterprise and trade collaborating effectively to make sure that we provide opportunities for small businesses to tell us where they need markets to open, to support them in helping those markets to open, and to support them in trade.
Mr Papastamkos, I agree with you on the legal and regulatory burdens. It is very important that these are addressed properly. It is important to resolve them, and I also agree on the importance of safety in that context.
A number of Members, notably Mr Lundgren and Mr Rübig, as well as Mr Papastamkos, talked about the ‘Buy American’ provision that is currently going through Congress. Members will know that this is based on the 1979 Trade Act. We already have that provision, but through the Government Procurement Agreement we have reciprocal arrangements whereby nations which sign up to it can bid for those projects. What we are hoping – and we have been talking to the Americans about this – is that we end up where we were before. I have read the legislation. I too am very concerned about it.
I am going to America at the end of February to meet the new United States Trade Representative, who, we hope, will have been through his confirmation by then, and Members can rest assured that these are very important issues to be raised.
Mr Ford raised some of the issues about bilateral relations. Korea is progressing, and on ASEAN I am looking for the flexibility which Mr Ford and I have discussed before, in order to try and move forward on that, but I agree too that there is no substitute in terms of value and importance for the multilateral arrangements.
On what we said about India, Prime Minister Singh has made it clear he is very committed. I agree with Mrs McGuinness that the question of agriculture for India, which I shall also return to, is very important. I was with Kamal Nath in London last week, debating Doha, and he as Trade Minister for India raised exactly same the point as Mrs McGuinness about the incredible importance of low-level subsistence farmers. I fully agree with her comments and indeed with what the Minister was saying.
Mr Pannella, I do not think that we are quite at the mercy of events. I think we as Europe have to push forward, use our influence and make it absolutely clear that we agree with what you said about the critical importance of battling against protectionism. It is a big challenge and one of the challenges contained within it is communication, making sure people understand.
Mr Hénin has not stayed for my response, unfortunately, but it is not a matter of sacrificing industry for consumers. This is about industrial growth and development. It is about protecting workers’ jobs, because we know the importance of trade and export to doing precisely that. As for institutional change at the WTO, we could spend our time on that, but I want to spend my time on finding practical ways through this difficult economic period.
Mrs Wortmann-Kool talked about services. I agree this is very important. It is very important too to be transparent. I could not agree more with that."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples