Brussels, 02/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Karel De Gucht's new strategy for the trade policy of the EU is based on a less-naive fidelity to free trade. The trade commissioner is therefore determined to fight to remove the obstacles put up by third countries to the trade in goods, services and raw materials to investment flows and in the framework of public procurement contracts. A report by his staff, which identifies the major obstacles and target six strategic partners of the EU, will be published next week, before being presented to the European Council.
“If I manage to deploy our instruments - technical, legal, diplomatic and, when necessary, political - to remove obstacles to trade, we can make a difference and open up considerable new export and investment opportunities for our businesses. I am fighting for a situation of fair competition for European businesses on the global market. We must open our doors to new trade opportunities, and keep these doors open by means of active surveillance. We must make sure that the rules are applied fairly”, said De Gucht on Tuesday 1st March, after the speech to the European Policy Centre think tank.
The commissioner will present the European leaders, who will meet on 11 March and then again on 24 and 25 March, with a new report prepared by his services on obstacles to trade and investment put in position by third countries, which are making life difficult for European companies. This report focuses on 21 barriers of “economic or systemic importance”, which affect 10% of the exports of the EU27, of a total value of €100 million, and covering six strategic partners (Brazil, China, the US, India, Japan and Russia), with which the EU does 45% of its trade, De Gucht explained. The report also identifies a large range of obstacles, such as national preference policies in China, with its “local” innovation policy, in India, where burdensome conditions await foreign companies trying to obtain licences in the telecoms sector, the United States, with its Buy American policies, and Russia, with its new investment policy which puts foreign companies at a disadvantage. Lastly, he includes restrictions on exports of raw materials, particularly those used in finished products exported by the EU.
On Tuesday, De Gucht also highlighted the progress of the strategy underway for market access, which is based on a decentralised partnership between the Commission, the member states and businesses, to take action “on the ground” in third countries, to identify and remove trade barriers to foreign companies, particularly non-tariff barriers, “which range from discriminatory taxes on alcohol in India to the burdensome process of having licences granted in Argentina”. This strategy “does not offer the prestige of the negotiating room, but week after week, it shows examples of success which affect various businesses, help to save jobs and contribute to growth”, the commissioner explained, using the example of the flexibility obtained by the EU in the labelling system for imports of textiles to Egypt.
The commissioner also spoke of the dossier on access to public procurement, confirming that work was underway with his colleague for the internal market, Michel Barnier, to set in place a mechanism aiming to limit access to EU public contracts in the event of restrictions placed by third countries. “Some of our trade partners, including our largest trading partners, have used the crisis to apply policies which favour national companies in the awarding of public contracts. In fact, the EU market for public contracts is considerably more open than those of our major commercial partners”, De Gucht lamented, going on to state that in the EU, nearly €312 billion worth of public contracts are open to the signature countries of the WTO agreement on public procurement (GPA). “There is a major imbalance between what we offer and what the other members of the WTO offer”, he continued, adding that the value of public contracts open to foreign tenderers is only €34 billion in the United States and €22 billion in Japan. And aside from the issue of imbalance, De Gucht raised the even more controversial issue of the opening-up of the public procurement markets of the large emerging economies which have not yet signed the GPA.
Given all kinds of protectionist behaviour, De Gucht is prepared to fight, and he will use the force of the law if needs be. He therefore promised that he would not hesitate to turn to the WTO, as he did in the case of restrictions imposed by China on its exports of raw materials, Chinese antidumping measures against European exports of fastening systems, or the request for arbitration at the WTO over the level of reprisals against illegal antidumping measures in the United States. “The dispute settlement mechanism at the WTO allows us to ensure that our partners play by the same rules. But this is a last resort option”, he concluded. (E.H./transl.fl)