The European Parliament approved (by 509 votes to 63 with 120 abstentions) the own-initiative report by Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgium) on the trade impact of Covid-19 on Wednesday 7 July.
The report details the direction MEPs believe EU trade policy should take. It was an opportunity to return to the European Parliament's request, expressed in June, to engage in a “constructive dialogue” on a temporary lifting of patents on Covid-19 vaccines at WTO level.
It should be noted that, on this point, the European delegation to the WTO maintains a firm position on its counter-proposal to the lifting of patents (see other news).
Van Brempt’s report also tackles export restrictions, value chain resilience, EU trade defence tools and, most importantly, sustainable development in trade (see EUROPE 12727/19).
MEPs therefore call on the Commission to rapidly present its 15-point action plan on this issue.
On 13 July, they will have the opportunity to discuss this with the European Commission in the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA).
“Our trade policy must fully embody the ambition of the Green Deal and we must close the gap between health and trade policy”, said Kathleen Van Brempt. She added, “Our openness is our strength and with our large single market we continue to set global standards. But we must not be naïve: we will not give free entry passes to our house to those who don't play by the rules”.
See the report: https://bit.ly/3bTFFrU (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)