The European Commission announced on Wednesday 10 October in the European Parliament that it would formally validate the texts of the trade agreements negotiated with Vietnam at the College meeting on Wednesday 17 October (see EUROPE 12098).
The two newly translated agreements – an EU-Vietnam free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement – were the result of a split from the agreement originally concluded with Hanoi.
After the judgment by the European Court of Justice in May 2017 (see EUROPE 11789), the negotiators opted for two separate ratification procedures: the free trade agreement is an exclusive competence of the EU, allowing faster ratification, while the investment protection agreement will take the slow path of ratification by all national and even regional parliaments.
Rapid European ratification?
"We will immediately start the ratification process here in the Parliament", Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) promised at a public hearing of the committee on international trade.
However, the hearing confirmed the reluctance of MEPs, who were concerned about Vietnam's respect for human rights, working conditions and the right to strike. Thirty-two of them had made their approval conditional on key progress in these areas (see EUROPE 12098).
They also criticised the Commission for showing weakness in these negotiations by not forcing Hanoi to engage more in reforms.
However, for the Commission's negotiator, representatives of the private sector, as well as an expert from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), who was also invited to the hearing, Vietnam is on the right track: the reform of the Labour Code, necessary for the ratification of the last three ILO conventions not yet ratified by Hanoi, has been initiated.
The road to ratification of the free trade agreement is likely to be slower than expected... much to the displeasure of economic operators. The imminent ratification of the comprehensive and progressive trans-Pacific partnership agreement will put European companies at a disadvantage, they worry.
The bilateral free trade agreement is expected to eliminate more than 99% of tariffs on goods, while opening Vietnamese service markets to EU companies. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)