Brussels, 15/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - During the world economic summit in Berlin on Thursday 14 January, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said that the Commission's trade agenda for 2016 would focus on the post-Nairobi multi-lateral agenda at the WTO, the TTIP talks with the US, the ongoing bilateral negotiations with the Asia-Pacific countries, and the debate on EU trade policy.
The EU finished 2015 on a positive note by concluding negotiations in early December for its first free trade agreement with an emerging economy - Vietnam (see EUROPE 11444). It also finished 2015 with the conclusion, at the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi, of an agreement on reviewing the WTO plurilateral agreement on information technology (see EUROPE 11455) and with the multilateral agreement (as part of the Doha Round) on removing agricultural export subsidies and new arrangements on equivalent forms of support (see EUROPE 11458), Malmström stated.
In addition to its agenda at multilateral level (which includes addressing new WTO issues that were not discussed as part of the Doha Round), the EU will work on a new agenda at bilateral level, including the modernisation of three of its oldest free trade agreements (with Turkey, Mexico and Chile), the preparatory work for opening free-trade negotiations in the Asia-Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Indonesia), the implementation of its agreement with South Korea (to include investment) and an assessment of the feasibility of investment agreements with Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The EU will also continue its ongoing work - including the TTIP negotiations with the US, which will lead to an initial exchange of offers on public procurement in early 2016. “The EU is ready to finish this agreement under the Obama Administration. We have the political and human resources to do that. However, the US must also be prepared to commit if we are to get a result”, Malmström stated.
As regards the CETA, the free trade agreement with Canada, which is now being legally scrubbed, some “fine-tuning” is currently ongoing, including on the “sensitive subject” of investment. “We need to get that right, but I also hope we can move very quickly”, Malmström said.
The negotiations are to continue with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) - with both parties still working on an exchange of offers on market access (including agriculture, industrial goods, services and public procurement). “We are now working towards that end, which requires a lot of internal preparation and consultation”, she said.
Malmström also promised to continue the “very hard” work for a free trade agreement with Japan. “We will continue to make progress this year”, she said.
The negotiations for an investment agreement with China will also continue (see other article). This agreement “would improve conditions for EU investors on the ground and can be a support to China's domestic reform efforts”, Malmström added.
In addition, she promised “an intense debate” on the EU's trade policy, for which she will support opening up to free trade on the basis of three “arguments”: - the protection of Europe's regulatory and social system and of its high standards on the environment, food safety, health and social services; - the reform of the arbitration system for investment protection; - the transparency of the negotiations.
“We are living in turbulent times, in which fear and uncertainty are prominent in our politics in general, including in the trade debate. It is always possible that they lead us to make poor decisions. And making a bad decision - rejecting an open trade policy - would be disastrous for Europe”, Malmström, a Swedish liberal, concluded, stating that 30 million people in the EU, in other words a seventh of the labour force, depend on exports for their livelihood - and this is only going to increase in the future, she warned. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)