Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-16-Speech-4-050-000"
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"en.20120216.6.4-050-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, one of the Union’s highest priorities must be to ensure that an area of peace, development, justice and freedom, spanning both shores of the Mediterranean, can become an enduring reality.
The association agreements entered into with our Mediterranean partners in the framework of the Barcelona Process were the first step towards establishing a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area. One of the main reasons why it was not possible to attain this objective in 2010 was the lack of social, economic and commercial integration among our Southern neighbours.
The ‘Arab Spring’, as you well know, is the most momentous change since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In this regard, we should certainly congratulate the High Representative, Baroness Ashton, and the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, for having given the convention on which we are voting today a priority status among the different commitments that make up the Union’s response to this situation.
This convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin constitutes a major step forward in the establishment of the free trade area. Its adoption will ratify a single, simplified instrument which replaces more than 100 bilateral protocols currently in existence, and will broaden its geographical scope to include the Western Balkans and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as well as the Mediterranean countries.
The convention is therefore an incentive for South-South trade, and as such it may contribute to economic growth, economic diversification, the reduction of poverty, democratisation and integration in the region.
I trust that over the course of this debate, the Commission will be able to provide a satisfactory response to the questions and concerns that this House has almost unanimously put forward in the form of an oral question and a resolution.
In addition to the absence of a dispute settlement mechanism, a review clause and an impact assessment, it is also important to address the importation and potential cumulation of origin of products originating – if you will forgive the repetition – from illegal Israeli settlements.
Unfortunately, I have to add that, although the technical agreement currently in place between Israel and the European Union requires customs authorities and Israeli exporters to determine whether products exported to the Union originate from the settlements, the procedure does not contemplate this data being passed on to European customs. This prevents our customs, which are unable to examine each individual consignment coming from Israel due to the lack of a special budget, from complying simply and efficiently with international law and with their duty to deny applicability of the preferential treatment provided in the agreement between the European Union and Israel to products originating from Israeli-occupied territories.
I therefore believe a commitment on the part of the Commission to determine the real origin of products exported by Israel in a better, simpler, more efficient way – taking on board the proposals set out in the resolution – would be most welcome. It would also garner broad support for the convention, thereby avoiding the possibility that this issue might become an obstacle preventing both its adoption and the social and economic integration of the Mediterranean region, a region of great significance for the European Union as a whole, particularly in the current circumstances."@en1
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