Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-13-Speech-4-083-000"
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"en.20111013.4.4-083-000"2
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"Madam President, first, I would like to apologise for changing the guards in the middle of your debate. This by no means represents disrespect on the part of the Commission for remarks made in the European Parliament. This change was necessary because Commissioner De Gucht is working on exactly what we have been discussing today, namely free trade in Korea, and my colleague, Mr Šemeta, had to go on an urgent trip to Moldova. But I would like to assure you that all your remarks and questions have been properly noted and that, if you are not satisfied with the answers I provide, I will be very happy to continue our discussion in written form.
Regarding the topic we have been discussing today, I would like to thank you very much for putting this very important issue on our European agenda. I think you are right: when it comes to protectionism, the Trade Barriers Commission has to behave very responsibly and very actively, which is exactly what we always try to do.
I think that you very rightly pointed out the specificity and importance of the trade relationship between the United States and the European Union. If we look at the size of the relationship and the size of the economy – and, as was rightly pointed out by one of the honourable Members, there is the feeling that the future of American trade lies with Asia – I always say: let us have a look at the real figures; let us have a look at how big the GDPs of all the big countries are. And you know that all of them together have a smaller GDP than the United States, and that the United States has a smaller GDP than the European Union.
Therefore, our trade relationship is a most robust one. It creates 15 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, our trade represents more than 400 billion in trade goods and more than EUR 260 billion in services and, if you look at mutual investment in mutual stock options, we are talking about more than EUR 2 trillion. So it is a very solid and robust trade relationship, and therefore it requires appropriate care.
Therefore, we are investing a great deal of energy in TEC contacts and in TEC cooperation between the Commission and the United States, represented by the White House in this particular case. We know how much we can gain if we are able to remove just one of the barriers and how much we could lose if new barriers are erected. This is exactly the approach the Commission and Commissioner De Gucht will take at the upcoming very important negotiations, whether they be part of the EU-US Summit at the end of October or the subsequent TEC meeting, which should take place a day later.
To conclude, I would like to assure you that we remain in close contact with our American partners; that this issue, which was raised by several Members of the European Parliament, will be followed very closely; and that the Commission will do all that is necessary to defend the rights of EU businesses and EU job holders and to protect the good economic and business environment between the United States and the European Union."@en1
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