Many MEPs expressed their frustration to the European Commission on Tuesday 13 July. Meeting in the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), they regretted the lack of concrete announcements on the European Commission’s 15-point action plan for trade and sustainable development.
In 2018, the European Commission presented a 15-point action plan for effective implementation of sustainability chapters in trade (see EUROPE 11971/10). Since then, and in connection with its trade policy review unveiled in February 2021 (see EUROPE 12661/1), it has to provide a revision of this action plan.
Ulrich Weigl, the European Commission’s Deputy Director General for Trade Services, explained to MEPs that a study and a public consultation are underway until the end of October. This confirms the previously announced timetable for the presentation of this action plan in 2022.
For some, this is far too late. “I am very concerned about this timetable. The Commission should speed up the work and come up with a revised action plan before the end of the year”, stressed Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgium).
Other MEPs, such as Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA, Belgium), Ánna-Michelle Assimakopoúlou (EPP, Greece), and Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany), also criticised the lack of new elements in the exchange.
“I’m not satisfied, indeed I’m amazed, that we are still at the stage of studies”, said Saskia Bricmont.
INTA committee chair Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) expressed concern about the future nature of the text. “Let us not forget that the Action Plan is only a working document for the time being, it does not commit the Commission. What will be the outcome of this exercise? Will it be a regulation, a communication?”, he asked.
This has not yet determined, replied Ulrich Weigl. It will depend on the content of the text, but the European Commission says it is “open to several types of text”, he added.
See the action plan presented in 2018: https://bit.ly/3keczII (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)