Brussels, 14/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Driven by the principle of bringing the EU closer to its citizens, social partners and SMEs, the Luxembourg Presidency - which is at the head of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2015 - is to ensure that account is taken in EU trade policy (as in all policies) of “the real and direct interest of the citizens”. This was the promise of Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn to the European Parliament's international trade committee on Tuesday 14 July. Transparency and safeguarding social standards will also be the Luxembourg Presidency's leitmotifs, he promised.
The trade agenda of the Luxembourg Presidency runs alongside crucial deadlines by the end of December, both on the multilateral level (especially the 10th WTO ministerial conference) and on the bilateral level (especially the continuation of the TTIP negotiations, and the launch of negotiations with Tunisia which Asselborn has flagged up as a priority following the terrorist attack in Sousse).
On an overall level, Asselborn said he wants “continuity” and “coherence” in trade policy on the basis of the strategy tabled by the European Commission in 2010 - which is due to be updated in the second half of 2015. The trade ministers will adopt conclusions on the EU's new trade strategy during their meeting on 27 November.
On the multilateral level, the Luxembourg Presidency will conduct the preparatory work for the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi (December), where the 161 WTO member countries still hope to reach a political agreement on the Doha round. “The multilateral framework remains the focus of our policy. Without the WTO, the framework for globalisation would be more chaotic. Dragging the Doha negotiations on harms the credibility of the WTO and harms the developing countries”, Asselborn stated. In this context, he also said that he hoped the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) would be ratified by the European Parliament in October so that the EU could lodge its ratification instrument with the WTO before the conference in Nairobi.
On the plurilateral level, the Luxembourg Presidency wants to encourage the conclusion of the ongoing negotiations, on the sidelines of the WTO, for an agreement on liberalising trade in environmental goods. Asselborn underlines the excellent signal that an agreement would give before the UN climate conference (COP 21).
On the bilateral level, the Luxembourg Presidency wants progress in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) negotiations, which Asselborn hopes will reach “a new quality in terms of substance” by the end of 2015. “We don't want an agreement at any price”, he nevertheless warned, underlining that he will work for the utmost transparency of the negotiations and that he will encourage debate around the issue of investor-state dispute settlement and other sensitive TTIP-related issues. A conference with the social partners is planned for the autumn.
Other priorities for Asselborn are working for the conclusion, at political level, of the free trade negotiations with Vietnam and Japan, and for the signature of the free trade agreement with Canada (CETA) which is in the process of a legal tidy-up. The Luxembourg Presidency will also stress the importance of the TransPacific Partnership negotiated between the USA and around ten Asian countries, and as a result of this, he will stress the importance of concluding free trade agreements with Asia. The Presidency will highlight the investment agreements with Burma/Myanmar and China, Asselborn stated.
With regard to the EU's neighbourhood, the Luxembourg Presidency is prioritising two key issues - firstly the launch of trade negotiations with Tunisia planned for October, and secondly the assessment by the end of 2015 of the requests for extending the EU's tariff measures and autonomous quotas for Georgia and Molodova, and the preparatory work for the entry into force of the free trade agreement with Ukraine, including the trilateral discussions with Russia.
On the legislative level, the Luxembourg Presidency wants to focus on several important issues, including the reform of the EU's trade defence, and the mechanism for favouring reciprocity in the conditions for EU companies accessing third countries' public procurement - two issues on which the Council was deeply divided at the end of 2014, Asselborn stated.
The Luxembourg Presidency also wants to complete the trilogue discussions with the European Parliament and Commission on the draft regulation to limit the financing of military and armed groups in conflict areas (the Great Lakes in the DRC and in East Africa) via the extraction of, and trade in, war minerals, after the vote in first reading on 20 May. In addition, the Luxembourg Presidency wants to complete the discussions on the regulation against torture and capital punishment - an issue that was introduced by the 2005 Luxembourg Presidency.
The Luxembourg Presidency will also focus on granting market economy status to China - with Asselborn saying that a legal assessment is expected from the European Commission on this issue by the autumn. (Emmanuel Hagry)