Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) debated the link between the European Green Deal and trade policy on Monday 7 December. While they all agree that trade policy can and should be a significant tool to contribute to the objectives of the Green Deal, they do not all agree on how to achieve this.
EPP and ECR MEPs are among those who want to increase the number of trade agreements to encourage partner countries to adopt the same standards as the European Union. They agree with the position of the employers’ association BusinessEurope, represented by its Deputy Director General, Luisa Santos. According to her, harmonisation of standards and labels could also be an environmental lever: “We have different standards and labels. If we want to avoid market fragmentation, we need to move towards clearer standardisation”.
Carbon tax. Some MEPs questioned experts on the compatibility of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) with WTO rules. In the panel, Olivier de Schutter, UN rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, indicated that he considered this measure to be compatible. He warned, however, that this mechanism would cover only a small portion of greenhouse gas emissions and would be complicated to set up.
Chapters on trade and sustainable development (TSD). Mr de Schutter also stressed the need to make the implementation of TSD chapters in free trade agreements mandatory. On the latter point, he was joined by Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France), Chairman of the Environment Committee, by Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), Chairman of the Committee on International Trade, and also by Wendel Trio, Director of the NGO Climate Action Network (CAN Europe). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)