On the eve of the vote in the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) on EU/Vietnam trade agreements set for Tuesday 21 January, stakeholders offer a very mixed picture of positions (see EUROPE 12406/4, 12364/18).
Industry: largely favourable
Large, medium and small enterprises (BusinessEurope, SMEunited), European services (ESF), the whole industry seems unanimous in encouraging MEPs to validate these treaties. Supporting them means "supporting European business, European jobs and European prosperity", say the organisations in a joint statement stressing the need for the EU to strengthen its presence in Asia.
A dozen European trade associations - including the automotive industry (ACEA and CLEPA) and the sporting goods industry (EFSI) - also co-signed a letter to MEPs on Monday 20 January urging them to validate these agreements.
Agri-food: rather for it
Among the signatories of this letter, the presence of the European Committee of Wine Enterprises (CEEV) or the agri-food retailers (CELCAA) should be underlined.
The association of agricultural organisations in the EU, Copa-Cogeca, for its part, is cautiously optimistic. "A preliminary analysis suggests that it (the agreement) is going to be beneficial for a large number of sectors (meat, dairy, wine, processed products, GIs, etc.)", the association told EUROPE, while stressing that it would remain vigilant for sensitive sectors (rice, garlic, sweet corn, sugar).
One should remember that these organisations were very hostile to the ratification of the CETA agreements with Canada or the agreement with Mercosur.
NGOs: opposed
While some of these signatories point to progress on workers' rights in Vietnam (see EUROPE 12373/25), the same cannot be said for human rights. The EU "has noted a negative trend of prosecuting and sentencing of human rights activists and bloggers", the head of the EU delegation said in December 2019. The previous month, eighteen NGOs called on the Parliament to postpone the approval of the EU/Vietnam trade agreements (see EUROPE 12363/26).
Contacted by EUROPE, the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) said it had not followed these talks. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)