Sabine Weyand, the European Commission's new Director-General for Trade, presented her analysis of the challenges facing the European Union's Common Commercial Policy to civil society on Tuesday 9 July. She has also set her priorities for responding to them.
In office since June 1, Ms Weyand is a long-time observer of the challenges facing the international trade system: she was on Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy’s staff during the Seattle crisis. However, she warned the assembly from the outset: “we have to accept that what we have taken for granted for the last decades is far from being assured”, because the rules-based trade system is “clearly under threat”.
“Trade policy is now at the intersection of geopolitics, security and technology, and that is not something the EU is particularly good at handling”, Weyand warned.
For the EU to continue to define the rules of the game, for trade that reflects its values, investments must be made in the free trade system, and economic freedoms and multilateralism must be defended, she told representatives of civil society.
And to “leverage our internal strength at the global level”, the EU “has to up its game”, by further integrating its trade policy with its external and, above all, internal policies, said Ms Weyand.
Prioritizing WTO reform
Laying out the priorities that will guide her directorate in the future, Ms Weyand cited the preservation and reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO): “The EU is itself a rules-based organisation, and that means we can only operate in a rules-based environment”.
That is why the EU has taken the lead in reforming the WTO by rolling out its ideas for short- and long-term solutions, the German official stressed.
For exemplary implementation of agreements
Ms Weyand was also pleased about the negotiations that have concluded or are underway, whether multilateral, plurilateral or bilateral. Given this progress and to “prove that the negotiations are worth the effort”, the focus in the coming years will have to be on the transparent implementation and enforcement of these free trade agreements (FTAs): the 15-point plan for the chapters on trade and sustainable development (see EUROPE 11971/10), the provision of benefits for SMEs and the improvement of the evaluation of agreements.
“That will have an impact on how DG Trade works and [...] I want to see a partnership with Member States, with civil society, on the implementation and enforcement of all chapters of the agreements”, said Ms Weyand.
The next meeting between DG Trade and civil society will take place on 15 July and will focus on the agreement with Mercosur. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)