Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-10-Speech-3-676"
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"en.20100210.34.3-676"2
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"Mr President, I do not see this in the same way as the previous speaker. I actually welcome the free trade agreement with South Korea. As far as I can see, it is clearly in the EU’s interest to foster as close a relationship as possible between Europe and the democratic countries of Asia, including South Korea.
For a long time, there was an imbalance in trade between Europe and South Korea because of protectionism, between the EU with its free trade and South Korea with its protectionism. A few decades ago, South Korea was an agricultural society; it has developed rapidly into an industrial society, with 81% of the population now living in urban areas. The country is now the world’s eleventh largest economy and the EU’s fourth largest trading partner.
South Korea is an important ally in a strategically important area. Forecasts suggest that the country will have an even more dominant position in the high-tech sector in a decade’s time.
South Korea has to compete with the economic and military giant to the north of it, China, which is, at the same time, the country’s main trading partner. In competitive terms, China has an almost inexhaustible resource in the form of cheap labour. Consequently, China is also the country’s main trade competitor. By imposing quality requirements on South Korea, the EU can make the country’s goods better suited for export to the US and Europe – much better than those from China, and I imagine we are all interested in bringing that about.
This free trade agreement will, as has been mentioned, remove tariffs worth EUR 1.6 billion a year. That may be a very good thing in general, but for me, the question is whether South Korean trade and industry has been sufficiently liberalised and whether the roadmap for the free trade agreement can be met, taking into consideration the fact that South Korea still gives extraordinary subsidies to certain industries such as the pharmaceutical and electronics sectors."@en1
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