On Thursday 17 June, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) adopted their draft opinion on the future of EU-US relations by 39 votes to 2 with 1 abstention. The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) is responsible for this own-initiative report. The text echoes the EU-US summit of 15 June in Brussels and its announcements (see EUROPE 12741/1, 12741/2 and 12741/3).
The rapporteur and chairman of the INTA committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), welcomed the adoption. His colleagues welcomed the renewal of transatlantic relations, but called for even closer cooperation.
The aim is for them to work together on specific issues, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (BCM) or global digital levy.
WTO. They also want the EU-US duo to lead the way at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In a compromise amendment, MEPs call on both sides to agree on concrete deliverables for the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference at the end of the year. This concerns in particular “the green and digital transition; a fisheries agreement; a declaration on trade and health; work programmes for the reform of the Dispute Settlement Body, for industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises; and negotiations on electronic commerce”.
Another important element in the multilateral arena is that the Parliament insists on the need to adopt a coordinated position on China and Russia.
Patents on Covid-19 vaccines. MEPs did not hesitate to return to the subject of intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines. They adopted a Greens/EFA amendment calling for an exemption from the WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
Interparliamentary dialogue. In a compromise amendment, the INTA Committee members call for a “continuous transatlantic parliamentary dialogue on trade between the European Parliament and the US Congress”. They also want to be involved in the new Trade and Technology Council, as a sub-committee.
EU trade policy. In view of the continuing divergence on trade issues on both sides of the Atlantic, the EU needs to develop trade defence tools as soon as possible, say MEPs. They ask the European Commission to make its proposal for an anti-coercion tool as soon as possible.
According to the Commission’s current timetable, this is not expected to happen before spring.
See the draft opinion: https://bit.ly/3wCPqmy (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)