The delegation of the 'international trade' (INTA) committee of the European Parliament, which visited Mexico last week (20-22 February), supports a swift conclusion of the negotiations to update the EU/Mexico free-trade agreement, as Mexico has called for, as long as the future agreement is substantially acceptable and appropriately tackles human rights and sustainable development, the rapporteur on the dossier, Romania's Sorin Moisa (S&D), summed up on Tuesday 28 February.
This delegation, which was led by the chair of the INTA committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), held talks with the Mexican government and stakeholders and ambassadors of the countries of the EU to Mexico and representatives of European businesses operating in the country on the scope and potential of an updated free-trade agreement (see EUROPE 11716).
"The situation at international level has changed due to the new American president, Donald Trump. We must reflect on the development of EU/Mexico cooperation in the light of developments regarding the North American free-trade agreement (ALENA)", Lange told the members of his committee on Tuesday (our translation throughout). "Together with our Mexican interlocutors, we are all broadly in favour updating the agreement in all of its aspects. And we have to take account of the EU/Canada free-trade agreement (CETA)", he continued. "Mexico would like the agreement to be concluded by the end of 2017 and the Mexican presidential elections in 2018, which is extremely ambitious. I do not know whether this is realistic, but it is a political signal", he added.
"The context of the visit was very much Donald Trump and the external economic shock he may cause to Mexico and the rest of the world. 39% of direct foreign investment in Mexico comes from the EU, compared 46% from the United States. This means that any shock to the Mexican economy would have repercussions for European economic actors operating in Mexico and for Mexico itself. The common thread of all of these discussions was the likely impact of the customs adjustment the United States may impose on Mexico", Moisa said.
"Mexico is extremely keen to conclude as quickly as possible. We have said that this approach was very optimistic but that we could go along with it, as long as the substance is there. There is consensus and unanimity in our delegation that we should impress upon the Commission and Mexico the need to include very strict provisions regarding human rights, employment rights and the ILO conventions. Convention 98 of the ILO has still not been ratified by Mexico and we will struggle to tell Parliament that we can't ratify the updated agreement if this is not been done. We also need a very strong anti-corruption chapter, an ambitious chapter on sustainable development, with applicable provisions and a sanctions-based approach", Moisa went on to say.
"Mexican civil society groups stressed that if human rights and environmental protection are not respected in the country, there is unfair competition for the EU. For the EU, it is a matter of the legitimacy of its trade policy and its values. However, there are also factors at economic level: if we obtain concessions on access to Mexican public procurement, these can easily be called into question by corruption and poor governance. All of this needs to be in the agreement if we are going to be able to adopt it here", Moisa explained. He also stressed the need for a solid chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary issues (SPS) to resolve the many bilateral problems in this area.
Lastly, Moisa flagged up the need for strong transparency, by closely involving civil society in the negotiations and carrying out public consultations in the EU and Mexico.
"There is an opportunity on offer with Mexico, which is prepared to reinforce the agreement and engage in fields such as intellectual property. Let us respond to its ambition. Obviously, there are questions to deal with, such as human rights. But there is enormous potential for Europe. We should take advantage of it as soon as possible. And Mexico is the gateway to Latin America", said Emma McClarckin (ECR, UK), who was part of the delegation in Mexico.
Spain's José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP) reiterated that Mexico was a "positive associate" of the EU. "The association agreement has generated very positive results. Mexico has launched major institutional reforms (…). It is in the EU's interests to move forward quickly" and conclude an agreement before the end of the term in office of the 'Juncker' Commission.
Finland's Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA) called for a "balance to be struck between the rights of businesses, citizens and civil society and for "ambitious chapters on 'anti-corruption' and 'sustainable development' to be included". Hautala added that she was in favour of a swift process, but stressed the need to tackle the question of legal security for investors properly.
Talks on updating the global EU/Mexico agreement, which has been in force since 2000 and includes a trade agreement, began in May 2016. Two rounds of talks were held in June and then November 2016, and two further rounds are scheduled between now and the summer: one from 3 to 7 April, the other from 26 to 29 June (see EUROPE 11716). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)