Contrary to the inward looking behaviour initiated by new US President Donald Trump, the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU wants to bring progress to the free trade negotiations being conducted by the EU in all areas – bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral – and especially with the Asia-Pacific region, starting with Japan, Malta's Economy Minister Christian Cardona told the European Parliament's international trade (INTA) committee on Tuesday 24 January.
With the announcement of the USA's withdrawal from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), "there is an advantage for us to accelerate the negotiations with Japan and Mexico" and "other countries" in the region, Australia and New Zealand and the ASEAN countries, Cardona stated.
In this spirit of strengthening links with the Asia-Pacific region, the first task of the Maltese Presidency will be to accompany the provisional implementation of the EU-Canada free trade agreement (CETA) – which is waiting for the Parliament's consent in February, following the green light given by the INTA committee on Tuesday (see other article).
The Maltese Presidency will also do its utmost to stimulate the conclusion of the free trade negotiations with Japan, which are approaching their end (see EUROPE 11694), and the continuation of the talks for the free trade agreements launched in 2016 with Indonesia (see EUROPE 11632) and the Philippines (see EUROPE 11567). Furthermore, the Presidency will also do its utmost to update the comprehensive agreement with Mexico (see EUROPE 11574), and will work on granting negotiating mandates for free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, and for updating the free trade agreement with Chile.
Valletta will moreover support the continuation of the EU-Mercosur free trade negotiations, which are on track after the exchange of offers on market access and an initial round of negotiations in October 2016 (see EUROPE 11647). In the EU neighbourhood, it will support the negotiations for a free trade area with Tunisia, and will also work on the negotiation mandate for the modernisation of the customs union with Turkey.
As regards the EU-US free trade negotiations (TTIP), which have been temporarily put on ice since Trump's election, "we intend to consider what will become of them in the first six months", Cardona stated, showing caution as to the positioning of the Trump administration. "These negotiations remain of major economic importance. But the EU will not accept an imbalanced agreement", he nevertheless stated.
The position of the new US administration will also be decisive for the continuation of the two plurilateral negotiations (for the Trade in Services Agreement – TiSA – and the Environmental Goods Agreement – EGA), for which the Maltese Presidency also wants to encourage the conclusion, Cardona stated. "As regards the TiSA, a modern international agreement will enable the GATT to be replaced but it is important that the content of the agreement prevails", he said.
On the multilateral level, the Maltese Presidency will take care of the preparatory work for the 11th WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires in December, where the WTO member countries will try to obtain new significant results following on from the Nairobi conference in 2015.
On the legislative level, the Maltese Presidency intends to surf the "good compromise based on a delicate balance" made by the Slovak Presidency in December 2016 on the plan to modernise the EU's trade defence instruments with a view to negotiations in trilogue (see EUROPE 11688).
It will also be for the Maltese Presidency to accompany the interinstitutional discussions on the Commission's proposal for a new methodology for the anti-dumping calculation to settle the issue of China in the EU's anti-dumping investigations, when the arrangements on China's WTO accession protocol expire (see EUROPE 11664). This is an issue on which Valletta "wants to reach a fair and balanced proposal swiftly", Cardona stated.
As regards horizontal issues, Cardona said he is looking forward to spring and the opinion of the European Court of Justice on the EU-Singapore free trade agreement and the issue of competences, following the opinion given by the advocate general at the end of 2016 (see EUROPE 11694).
In addition, the Maltese Presidency wants to work to promote the advantages of trade agreements better. "Europe must be close to its citizens. We must be sensitive to the needs and demands of the stakeholders and public", Cardona said. "Our trade agenda still has the aim of creating jobs. Trade policy must not be a policy of levelling downwards but must defend the EU's standards", he concluded. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)