Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-10-Speech-3-666"
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"en.20100210.34.3-666"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Treaty of Lisbon is opening a new chapter in the cooperation between the Commission, the Council and Parliament. The right of codecision of the European Parliament that has been directly elected by the citizens of Europe gives us the opportunity to bring democracy back into decisions on trade policy. This is the right thing to do, because it will have consequences for employees and consumers in the Member States.
Free and fair trade forms the basis for Europe’s prosperity. We must therefore firmly oppose any protectionist tendencies. Free trade agreements like this one with South Korea can make an important contribution to stimulating world trade, growth and employment. However, it is in the nature of agreements of this kind, that, depending on their specific structure, they bring more benefits for some sectors of industry than for others. It is our job in Parliament to weigh up carefully the impact on different industries and sectors within the EU. In order to do this, we need the relevant data and impact assessments and it is the Commission’s task to provide them. However, despite many requests from the committee and in the plenary session, we have not yet received data which we believe to be satisfactory. This is the reason why the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe has joined with other groups to ask this question.
According to the information that we have received so far, the agreement offers opportunities for the service, mechanical engineering and plant construction, chemical and agricultural industries in the European economy. However, the concern is that the agreement will have a negative impact on the car industry and the textile and electronics sectors.
The free trade agreement with South Korea is the only agreement with a developed country which does not include a ban on duty drawbacks. This may lead to one-sided cost benefits for South Korean industry. As the Commission has assured us on several occasions, the provisions on the duty drawback include a safeguard clause, which allows for a waiver on the basis of certain criteria. However, we urgently need to clarify this in the interests of the companies involved. The system must be applicable in practice. It must not be the case that the safeguard clauses are worthless because the companies cannot provide the necessary proof. As the agreement seems to contain one-sided regulations and as it sets a precedent for future agreements, for example, with India or with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, we feel that the specific wording of the safeguard clauses, the procedure for settling disputes and the other regulations relating to the application of the agreement are of central importance.
We are therefore calling on the Commission to submit the free trade agreement together with the provisions on its application to Parliament for approval. We want a decision quickly. For this reason, a provisional version of the agreement must not be allowed to come into force. I know from discussions with companies what an important impact the implementation has. Therefore, my question to the Commission is as follows: Will the development of the European External Action Service lead to it playing a stronger role in trade policy? In our opinion, at least, this should be included."@en1
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