Brussels, 10/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a position published on her blog to celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day on Wednesday 9 December, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström defended the EU's new trade strategy and the new generation free trade agreements as a “powerful tool” against corruption.
“Corruption undermines democracy, the rule of law and trust in public institutions. It holds countries back from development, underpins organised crime, leads to human rights violations and distorts markets (…) Corruption is a plague on the world's economics and societies, and it also prevents us from eradicating poverty, protecting our environment and achieving sustainable development”, Malmström states, adding that “Europe is far from being spared”. “More should be done to prevent corruption practices and punish those responsible”, she says.
In Malmstrom's eyes, “trade is a powerful tool for advancing our fight against corruption and promoting good governance”. “Today, trade policy already contributes to tackling corruption - for instance by increasing the transparency of regulations and public procurement, and by simplifying customs procedures”, she says. In addition, the EU is equipped with a system of tariff preferences (the GSP+) that encourage good governance. In order to take advantage of these preferences, developing countries must implement international conventions on good governance, including the UN convention against corruption, Malmström adds.
As well as offering new economic opportunities, free trade agreements “are also about fighting corruption and promoting good governance. As stated in the new trade strategy of the EU (…), the new generation of EU trade agreements is designed to promote responsibility based on our European values”, Malmström states.
“Trade agreements can be used even further to fight corruption and ensure that international conventions and principles are implemented in practice. We start by proposing to negotiate ambitious provisions on anti-corruption in all our future trade agreements, starting with TTIP. Also, as stated in our trade strategy, we will use free trade agreements to monitor domestic reforms of rule of law and governance, and in cases of systematic corruption and weak governance, we will set up consultation mechanisms”, Malmström concludes. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)