Initiated a year ago, the procedure, which may recommend the temporary suspension of tariff preferences under the Everything but Arms (EBA) scheme, will conclude with the publication of the Commission's investigation report in the week of 10 February.
The European Commission “in the process of making proposals regarding Cambodia's preferential access to the EU market under the everything but arms scheme”, a European source confirmed on Friday 7 February. Access for €5.3 billion worth of Cambodian imports (see EUROPE 12367/10, 12191/12).
According to Cambodian sources, Phnom Penh is already preparing for a radical suspension and is working to identify other sources of revenue, including oil.
If there is now little doubt about sanctions, their scope is likely to be nuanced. The Union indeed faces several challenges.
On the one hand, it is obligated to be firm and must demonstrate that the repressive policy of the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, must be punished. The Cambodian Government is in fact accused of serious and systematic violations of the conventions on human and labour rights, set out in the regulation on the system of trade preferences.
However, it is estimated that the abolition of the generous EBA tariff preferences in Cambodia could affect about one million employees. The Commission will therefore have to tailor its sanctions to minimise their social impact.
“Any possible measures will of course be balanced to effectively address the human rights’ violation that triggered the temporary withdrawal process, while at the same time preserving the development objective of the scheme”, the Commission confirmed to EUROPE.
It is also an opportunity to demonstrate that the EU knows how to put its money where its mouth is, by punishing those of its partners who do not respect the terms of its ‘contract’: in return for preferential access to the single market, the EU must meet its human rights requirements.
Vietnam. The European Parliament will also have to give its consent, on Wednesday 12 February in Strasbourg, to two trade agreements with Vietnam (see EUROPE 12421/2, 12418/16, 12408/27). By opening its market to this country with a very mixed democratic record, the EU will therefore have to demonstrate whether it really knows how to use its agreements as levers. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)