EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, who was in Paris on Tuesday 7 January, proposed to include "climate conditionality" in future free trade agreements. On the agenda of the talks were "burning issues" such as the threat of US trade sanctions on French products in response to the French 'GAFA tax' applied since July 2019 or the Airbus dispute, Mr Hogan told the press (see other news and EUROPE 12397/5), but also the new Commission's trade priorities and "longer-term challenges for the EU".
Sustainable trade
In his meeting with Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Chinese issues and the World Trade Organization (WTO) crisis were discussed.
The integration of climate issues into trade was also on the agenda, as well as the creation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (see EUROPE 12388/6) and also a form of climate conditionality. "The Commission will propose to include the Paris agreement in the essential clauses of future bilateral trade agreements, in order to allow for the suspension of the agreement in case of breach", Mr Hogan promised in Paris. Until now, only human rights and nuclear non-proliferation have been described as "essential".
"It is striking to see how much the new EU Commission priorities coincide with those of France", said Mr Hogan after his meeting with Mr Le Maire.
What about CETA?
In Paris, Mr Hogan also met with the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher. It should be remembered that this assembly has still not validated CETA, the free trade agreement with Canada, despite its adoption by the National Assembly in July 2019. The date for the Senate's examination of the dossier is still not timetabled, for fear that the dossier will be rejected by elected officials close to the French farming community, which is very hostile to the agreement.
In the early evening, he also met with the Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe (after this bulletin went to press). (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)