Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-06-11-Speech-1-061-000"
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"en.20120611.19.1-061-000"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I would like to thank Mr Fjellner for his report and for all the work he has put into it. As he just said, we will only have to discuss this again in 10 years, and by then Mr Fjellner’s hair will either have started to disappear or will be getting grey.
Just over a year ago, the Commission adopted a proposal to reform the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). Few trade files under this mandate have been subject to more intense scrutiny, and I congratulate the rapporteur, the Committee on International Trade (INTA), and the Danish and Polish Presidencies, for bringing us to where we are today. I am happy to see that the compromise reached between INTA and the Council Presidency endorses the core areas of the Commission proposal.
This is not a coincidence. Our internal discussions in the Commission were as complex as yours, and our proposal was the result of very careful reflection and a detailed impact assessment. The outcome was a balanced proposal which tackles head-on the true problems we face in the GSP. It is balanced because it focuses preferences on those who need them the most while, at the same time, expanding opportunities for countries which embrace core international values or values in human rights, labour rights and the environment.
The Commission proposal confronts head-on the real issues behind GSP. The first one is that the poorest developing countries will never grow sufficiently if we do not give them the space they need to export. This space is currently taken up by countries which are economically much more advanced and no longer need our unilateral preferences. We must focus preferences on the countries most in need.
Secondly, if we are serious about supporting sustainable development, we have to expand opportunities for those countries which are ready and willing to implement core international conventions. Thirdly, without sufficient predictability, EU importers will never make best use of the GSP and the GSP will never fulfil its potential in terms of exports and growth for the countries most in need.
The Commission proposal squares the circle by providing answers to these three challenges, while safeguarding the legitimate interests of EU industry and respecting WTO rules. While I would have preferred to do without some aspects of the compromise reached between INTA and the Council Presidency, I can and will support it because it strikes a realistic balance between the very many different views in this particularly complex dossier, and one that ultimately well reflects the policy priorities the Commission agreed on in the first place.
I therefore count on your help to support a compromise that is as realistic as it is politically important – a compromise whereby the EU will help those who need it most and those who embrace international values while respecting the interests of our industry and international law."@en1
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