According to the report published by the think tank Europe Jacques Delors on Friday 3 December, the EU needs to change its trade agreements to gain real leverage on sustainable development.
The authors first denounce the fact that the sustainable development chapters in the agreements are not subject to the classic dispute settlement mechanism and are therefore not subject to sanctions for non-compliance. Secondly, they point out that the EU’s main trading partners are China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, the EU does not have an agreement that includes respect for sustainable development with the majority of these countries.
“They do not cover the countries with which the EU trades the most, and therefore where the European trade footprint is the strongest, nor the weakest countries in terms of environmental performance and capacities to improve it”.
Recommendations
The Europe Jacques Delors institute suggests linking tariff preferences in agreements to the respect of environmental commitments. To this end, the think tank also recommends that these should be clearer, more precise, with “stronger language”, so that their implementation can be assessed.
It also means relying on a classic dispute settlement mechanism, with the possibility of sanctions.
Involvement of civil society and transparency around the agreements is also a significant point of improvement, according to the authors.
They also believe that the autonomous measures that the EU is developing, such as the Due Diligence Regulation or the tool against imported deforestation, must inevitably fill in some of the gaps in the agreements.
However, they point out in their report that free trade agreements will not lead to the necessary systemic changes: “Reviewing the adequacy and efficiency of sustainable development objectives in EU FTAs cannot replace a strong and proactive engagement to relaunch multilateral discussions on trade and environment”, they insist.
See the publication: https://bit.ly/31wUw9C (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)