Strasbourg, 27/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The social dimension and corporate responsibility, job creation, the environmental and climate dimensions, protection of consumer interests, human rights and promoting the rule of law, agricultural policy and industrial policy, and energy security - all areas where the trade strategy launched by the Commission in 2010 disappoints all the groups in the European Parliament (EP), which has called for it to be revised by summer 2013.
In a resolution, based on the report by Daniel Caspary (EPP, Germany), adopted in plenary session on Tuesday 27 September by 526 votes to 108, with nine abstentions, the EP makes clear its disappointment. “Parliament expected to receive a real future trade strategy, which took account of mid- and long-term developments and did not build on the false assumption of a continuing status quo on the world trade stage”, MEPs state, calling on the Commission to bring forward a “forward-looking and innovative future strategy” by 2013. The EU needs a coherent long-term trade strategy in order to take account of the challenges ahead and in particular of the major emerging countries. The EP also expects a “thorough analysis” of current trends in world trade, with a view to political planning for the coming 20 years. This should establish the Commission's ambitions for its bilateral trading relationships over this period including a distinct geographical strategy, for example through the creation of new agreements or targets for eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers with its major trading partners.
A modern, coherent, integrated trade policy is, in the view of the EP, required to take into account other policy areas such as human rights, social and environmental standards, on which there should be clauses in all new free-trade agreements, and also climate change, job creation, and more - all with the involvement of civil society.
While continuing to support the negotiation of bilateral free-trade agreements, which it considers to be important market access instruments, the EP still favours the multilateral approach within a WTO whose operation has to be strengthened. The EP also calls for dialogues with major trade partners, such as the United States, China, Japan and Russia, bring more and better quality results, especially on the elimination of non-tariff barriers, opening up of public procurement, and the protection of intellectual property, three areas where the EU is called on to make progress with all its trade partners, and in particular the emerging economies. To compensate the risks of opening up to the world, the EU must also provide itself with effective trade defence instruments, the EP says, and it calls, too, for effective protection of its foreign direct investment and service activities. MEPs call for sustainable and undistorted supply of raw materials, and appropriate intellectual, industrial and trade property rights protection which also bears in mind the interests of the poorest. (EH/transl.rt)