Brussels, 20/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 21 November, European trade ministers are to assess two draft key pieces of legislation that are still bogged down at the Council. The first is on the revision of EU defence instruments against unfair trade from third countries, and the second concerns the mechanism to support reciprocity in the conditions for access to public procurement in third countries for European companies. The two files show that the old divide between the traditionally free-trade member states and those of Southern Europe still persists.
With new European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström in attendance, the ministers will debate two draft regulations that require qualified majority for adoption by the Council, in agreement with the European Parliament. The Italian Presidency has tabled a compromise proposal for these two texts. “The Council is very divided on these two files. It will be difficult to force things and to have a result tomorrow”, a Belgian diplomatic source told EUROPE on Thursday 20 November. “These two files are bogged down at the Council, with a very strong divide. But we are happy that they are being dealt with by the ministers. We want to keep these two issues alive”, a French source told EUROPE.
First is a draft regulation tabled by the Commission in April 2013 to improve the way EU trade defence instruments work (anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures) to the advantage of all its economic partners (producers, importers and users). The instruments have remained virtually unchanged since 1995. On this file, the member states are stumbling on the issue of instituting, on raw materials markets, higher duties on imports coming from countries that use unfair subsidies and create structural distortions. In such cases, the EU would suspend its lesser duty rule, which states that duties must not exceed the level necessary to prevent harm being caused to an EU industry.
The other text is a draft regulation proposed in March 2012 to improve the conditions in which European companies participate in public procurement in third countries. This text aims to strengthen the EU's position in the negotiations concerning the modalities of access to third countries' public procurement, while clarifying the legal situation of foreign tenderers in the EU. This is a key instrument, given that global public procurement respresents €1 trillion per year, but only 25% of this is open to competition, with restrictions focusing on key sectors for the EU - such as construction, transport, medical devices, energy production and pharmaceuticals. However, “half the member states have doubts as to the usefulness of such an instrument”, a diplomatic source told EUROPE. This is also a file which raises a “classic division” at the Council, where free trade countries “fear that this mechanism gives a protectionist signal”. (EH)