As barriers to trade and investment increase internationally, the European Commission is convinced that raising awareness among EU economic operators could enable the European Union to better navigate through the protectionist obstacles raised by its trading partners.
This is one of the conclusions of a report on these trade barriers presented to MEPs on the Committee on International Trade on Tuesday 3 September by Francisco Perez-Canado, representing the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade.
The report, published by this institution last June, confirmed the rise in increasingly complex structural and transactional barriers faced by European exporters in third country markets (see EUROPE 12276/7).
Nevertheless, over the past two years, the combined efforts of EU exporters, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and European diplomacy on the ground have resulted in the cancellation of a multi-billion euro bill and the removal of 35 obstacles in 2018, Perez-Canado said.
Protectionist tensions are expected to intensify further in 2019, he warned, however, which requires increased efforts and more work on the EU's political visibility.
The Commission has therefore called on MEPs to use their full political weight to counter these obstacles. First at international level, during visits abroad by parliamentary delegations, but also at local level, with the organisation of events to raise awareness, especially among European SMEs, of the existing means within the EU of removing the obstacles they encounter to exports to certain third countries.
The creation of a position of Chief Trade Enforcement Officer (CEO) will be essential in this respect, particularly in terms of raising awareness (see EUROPE 12298/24), the European official also noted.
This CEO position is indeed being created, as confirmed by Sabine Weyand, who heads the Directorate-General for Trade, to MEPs during a closed-door meeting with the members of this parliamentary committee the day before. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)