The European Parliament's Socialists and Democrats group (S&D) have criticised the lack of ambition in the Council's proposals for updating the EU's trade defence instruments (TDI). The S&D Group deemed these proposals "unacceptable" in the current form in which they appear in the Council's position (adopted by qualified majority on Tuesday 13 December – see EUROPE 11688) to negotiate in trilogue with the Parliament.
"The S&D have been calling for the urgent reform of the EU's trade defence instruments for months, but the decision taken today falls dramatically short of what was expected", the S&D Group says in a press release, regretting that "the member states have been wasting precious time and they have now missed the opportunity to push for strong legislation to defend EU companies and EU jobs against unfair competition". "The lack of ambition in the member states’ proposals mean there will be a tough negotiation process with the European Parliament in which the S&D Group cannot and will not give in", the press release warns.
"Almost nothing from the European Parliament's first reading back in 2014 has been taken into account, therefore a lot of work has to be done in order to truly protect European industries and workers", warns Alessia Mosca (S&D, Italy), saying that the S&D Group will do its best to amend the proposal as much as possible.
The S&D Group highlights four shortcomings that it will try to rectify in the trilogue negotiations – the unsatisfactory and excessively complicated process for enabling exemptions from the 'lesser duty rule'; a longer shipping clause; the lack of any alleviation in the restitution of duties; not enough consideration of the specific needs of SMEs, Mosca states. (Original version in Emmanuel Hagry)