Brussels, 12/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Against the backdrop of major free trade agreements (FTAs) being finalised with the USA (TTIP) and Japan, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) says -in an opinion compiled by Neale Richmond (EPP, Ireland) and adopted by the CoR plenary assembly on Friday 8 April - that it supports FTAs that focus on the interests of SMEs, cities and regions, that guarantee the provision of public services, and that protect the environment and consumers' and workers' rights.
SMEs represent 99% of all the EU's businesses and supply two thirds of private sector jobs. They are at the centre of regional and local development, creating around d85% of new jobs in the last five years. According to Richmond, SMEs need to benefit fairly from growth and investment opportunities generated by FTAs, bearing in mind that cross-compliance costs to international standards are usually higher for SMEs that for multinational corporations.
In Richmond's opinion, the CoR supports reducing the cost of regulation by eliminating duplicate standard settings, which would enable SMEs to enter new markets more easily but without lowering EU standards of consumer, environmental and workers' rights protection. The CoR also underlines the need to inform local and regional chambers of commerce properly about the challenges and opportunities of upcoming trade agreements, given that SMEs typically lack the resources needed to monitor developments in world trade.
The CoR advocates including an SME chapter in all future EU trade agreements, and involving local and regional authorities in dialogues between the Commission and the member states on the specific needs of SMEs. Furthermore, the CoR recommends SME internationalisation programmes in cooperation with local and regional stakeholders.
While hailing the commitments taken by the EU institutions so that future FTAs do not prevent governments at all levels from providing, supporting and regulating public services, the CoR underlines that services of general economic interest (SGEI), such as water supply, healthcare and education, should explicitly be excluded from the scope of FTA negotiations. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)