Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-01-14-Speech-2-637-000"
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"en.20140114.44.2-637-000"2
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"Madam President, colleagues, I wish today to express my complete rejection of the Commission’s proposal, and as such I, alongside a number of colleagues from across the Chamber, have tabled an amendment to do just that.
While the rapporteur has been open to a number of discussions surrounding the proposal and has understood our concerns, I cannot join him in voting through this very dangerous piece of legislation. Throughout this process I have given my reasons why the EU should not pursue what I see to be a protectionist trade measure.
Firstly, the proposal itself is based on the view that the EU currently offers unrestricted access to its own procurement markets, while EU Member States struggle for reciprocal access. But this has been identified as at best completely over-exaggerated, with evidence showing that Chinese and US markets have gradually become more open and have remained more open than both the German and French markets since 1995.
One cannot but help feel that the Commission’s argument is an attempt to wrestle control of public procurement policy from Member States, including the British citizens that I represent. I believe that would be taking a major risk, and it is fair to say that the Commission also has no idea as to how third countries will react to being left out of the EU’s public procurement market. China’s retaliatory reaction to the EU’s anti-dumping levies on Chinese solar panel imports is a case in point. The damage to our international trade relationships across the world could take years to repair, while those countries build relationships elsewhere – not to mention the risk to our own single market and increased public procurement costs for our taxpayers.
By supporting the Commission proposal, I have the distinct feeling that we are shooting ourselves in the foot. If our aim is to open up procurement markets across the world, we should continue to support the government procurement agreement, which we ratified amendments to last year. Instead of pursuing this protectionist policy, we must keep our markets open."@en1
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