Addressing the European Parliament on Tuesday 10 July, the Austrian Minister for Economic Affairs and the Digital Economy, Margarete Schramböck, emphasised that, “a Europe that protects is the watchword” of the Austrian Presidency of the Council, which, while pursuing the EU's ongoing free-trade agenda, intends to ensure that “quality prevails” in the free trade agreements and the necessary deadline to conclude them.
When addressing the international trade committee, Ms Schramböck immediately emphasised that, “the EU cannot accept the punitive duties introduced by the US on steel and aluminium. Austria is a small scale economy and half of our jobs are export led. We do not want import tariff quotas but fewer barriers to trade”.
In a reference to the recent ratification by Austria of the EU/Canada (CETA) agreement, Ms Schramböck mentioned “a very good quality trade agreement” and provided assurances that the Austrian Presidency wanted, above all, to promote prosperity, jobs and economic growth through trade.
She also explained that in addition to boosting the process for signing and ratifying free trade agreements concluded with Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, the Austrian Presidency will support the first steps in the talks opened with Australia and New Zealand.
Ms Schramböck also promised to work towards a “common balanced solution” on the Community mechanism project for screening foreign investment in the EU and upon which trialogue talks between Parliament and Council will begin on Tuesday. She provided assurances that “We will take into account the different approaches” and that the keys in the proposal were monitoring and transparency.
At a multilateral level, Ms Schramböck expressed the wish for an “innovative approach” and provided the Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, with assurances that she would receive “all her support”. She insisted that “it is necessary to develop the current system but also implement reforms”. She called for new rules on industrial subsidies, copyright protection and strengthening the transparency of the dispute settlement mechanism. She emphasised that “at the WTO, we need to ensure swift progress even though we have partners who were friends in the past and which are perhaps no longer so”.
Possible countermeasures to US customs duties on cars
“With the US, we have responded very clearly (as part of the increase in US tariffs against steel and aluminium imports, Ed). We have already noticed that our reaction has had a deleterious impact on jobs in the US. It will perhaps be necessary to respond with another packet of reactions to US measures against cars”, explained Ms Schramböck, in response to the concerns expressed by French MEP Emmanuel Maurel (S&D). She added that “you can trust Austria for establishing a bridge between Europe and the US”. She continued by emphasising “the need to know how the German automobile industry is responding”.
Austrian MEP Karoline Graswander-Hainz (S&D) was quick to taunt her fellow Austrian by calling on the Austrian government to “also learn the lessons of the mistakes committed within the CETA” as part of the process for approving the free trade agreement with Japan".
Ms Graswander-Hainz (S&D) warned that “Quality must prevail over rapidity in the trade agreements. It would be good for you to acknowledge this. We believe that it is clear that the free trade agreement with Japan should go beyond CETA standards. Moreover, as long as the fundamental employment standards in Japan have not been ratified and that the chapter on sustainability does not contain a sanctions mechanism, we will not approve the agreement in the European Parliament”.
She concluded “If Europe wants to set standards in fair trade agreements, it also needs a possibility for binding sanctions. If the Europe that protects is the priority of the Austrian Presidency, it also needs to be possible to ensure respect and protection for environmental standards and workers' rights”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)