In the face of trade tensions heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis endorses the principle of ‘open strategic autonomy’ for the European Union in his answers to written questions on his vision of European trade policy from MEPs who will hear him on Friday 2 October, as will his counterpart in Financial Services, Mairead McGuinness (see other news).
According to the Commissioner-designate for Trade, the EU must exploit international trade opportunities by pursuing a “fair and sustainable” policy while protecting its internal market from unfair trading practices and ensuring respect for its core values and standards.
Mr Dombrovskis will thus seek to ensure that EU rules allowing trade to take place on a level-playing field are respected and even strengthened. “I will continue defending the internal market from distortions caused by dumping and subsidies through trade defence instruments and, where needed, by developing new internal tools”, he said.
In the light of the coronavirus pandemic, the resilience of supply chains is another issue at stake in this notion of open strategic autonomy, which is also on the agenda of the European Council on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October (see EUROPE 12571/2 and 12569/17).
Sustainable development. Although his replies do not address the Mercosur agreement specifically (see EUROPE 12563/28), Mr Dombrovskis wants to ensure that the EU’s external trade is sustainable from an environmental point of view.
To this end, he intends to use all the instruments at his disposal, such as the creation of a European regime promoting due diligence on European value chains. Another asset is the work of Denis Redonnet, who will be responsible for monitoring compliance with the provisions on climate and social rights enshrined in free trade agreements (see EUROPE 12535/22). As such, Mr Dombrovskis announced the creation of a new stakeholder complaints process.
“Zero tolerance approach to child labour”, the Executive Vice-President said. Any new trade agreement will have to include “ambitious” and “binding” chapters on environmental and employment issues, he adds, mindful of the Paris Climate Agreement.
As the EU aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, Mr Dombrovskis will help develop a World Trade Organization (WTO) compatible carbon border adjustment mechanism to prevent European companies from relocating (carbon leakage).
WTO. The defence of multilateralism through the reform of the WTO is another essential aspect of the action advocated by the Commissioner-designate.
Mr Dombrovskis recalled that the EU had already tabled proposals modernising the negotiating, dispute settlement and monitoring functions of the 144-member international organisation. In his view, any solution to the blockage of the Appellate Body will have to respect its essential characteristics, namely binding decisions by an independent two-tier tribunal. And also support the work at the UN on a Multilateral Investment Court.
Sustainable development will also have to become a central element of the WTO’s action, says the Executive Vice-President, citing the fight against climate change, the facilitation of trade in medical products, and new rules to deal with unfair practices.
All these dossiers will be the subject of a Commission communication on the review of commercial policy, scheduled for spring 2021.
See Mr Dombrovskis’ answers: https://bit.ly/30lCxiI (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)