The Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council sides with the European Commission with nuanced views on trade issues.
The Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, presented, on Tuesday 13 July to the MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), his country’s priorities for the next six months of the EU Council Presidency .
Members of the INTA Committee questioned Mr Počivalšek extensively on the state of negotiations on future agreements and on his position in this respect. He adhered to the European Commission’s position on each of them: the EU needs to diversify its trading partners, he said. He said that he wants to move forward on all negotiations or ratification processes, notably with New Zealand, Australia, Mercosur, India, China and the modernisation of agreements with Mexico or Chile.
Above all, Slovenia wants to foster a deeper trade relationship with the United States, which it considers to be the EU’s largest partner. It plans to “work on the implementation of the content of the joint statement of the EU-US summit of 15 June” (see EUROPE 12741/1, 12741/2, 12741/3).
Regarding the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, he did not take a strong position for or against ratification: “Relations with China are important for the EU’s economy. But we expect from all trade partners that they respect human rights and implement all standards of the ILO (International Labour Organization)”, he said.
The same applies to the agreement with Mercosur: “If the agreement does not enter into force, this will have negative consequences for the EU. But the conditions on the sustainable development chapters in this agreement must be met.
When asked several times by MEPs from different groups about the state of work on the agreement, Zdravko Počivalšek did not give a concrete answer.
Trade defence tools
The Slovenian Presidency considers that preparations should move forward rapidly on trade defence instruments. In particular, it hopes to reach a regulation on international public procurement before the end of the year. The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the EU agreed on a text for this tool on 3 June (see EUROPE 12732/22). This instrument aims to protect European companies against unfair practices in international public procurement.
Regarding the other tools currently being developed, such as the forthcoming proposal on the due diligence, the anti-coercion instrument or the recently published proposal on foreign subsidies (see EUROPE 12713/1), the minister supports a rapid implementation in order to strengthen strategic autonomy.
Lastly, Mr Počivalšek stressed the need to support SMEs and to take their interests into account in every free trade agreement negotiation. “We will pay attention to SMEs in legislative acts, in trade measures as well as in international initiatives”, he said. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)