‘Trade for all’ is not possible: it always has its winners and losers. To restore confidence in European trade policy, more honesty about the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) is essential, as is effective coordination between the European Union and Member States on the implementation of these agreements.
This is one of the conclusions of a public debate organised by the European Parliament on 18 November. In the presence of Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, observers and experts assessed the progress made three years after the launch of the EU's Trade for All strategy.
‘Yes’ to transparency and dialogue, but it is not enough
While the participants unanimously welcomed the results in favour of transparency and dialogue with civil society, Evita Schmieg, Director of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, said that "the link between transparency and trust is very loose".
In her view, it is also more honesty that European citizens need. On the one hand, the benefits of free trade, which are “largely exaggerated” in impact assessments, and on the other hand, the risks created by further trade openness: "I believe a clear and more honest discussions on how to deal with losers of trade might be helpful to regain trust. ”
Work on the implementation of FTAs
It is said and repeated more and more: "Implementation is critical to our agreements. Negotiating without implementing is like building roads without teaching people to drive”, says Malmström.
The implementation of FTAs also requires a stronger link between trade policy and the national policies responsible for its implementation and therefore involves offsetting and redistributing the effects of this opening, Schmieg warned.
Yellow card for the ‘trade and sustainable development’ chapters...
In its FTAs, the EU has failed to seize the opportunity to make the trade and sustainable development chapters enforceable, according to several participants. For the representative of European trade unions, Liina Carr, the labour and environmental aspects of the agreements have remained purely declarative. It is also complex to assess the external effects of these chapters.
Some possible solutions were suggested during the discussion: more monitoring of the impact of FTAs, more evaluations, a complaint mechanism.
An alternative solution is the use of ex-ante conditionality, where the implementation of an FTA is conditional on concrete progress in the partner country.
Success on standards
For Lorand Bartels, Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge, the European standards promoted in the FTAs are also promoted widely, in a hidden way, throughout the agreement. This “multi-pronged policy” has been relatively successful, in particular in bringing third countries into compliance with European standards, “which of course reduces competitive pressure in the EU”. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)