On Wednesday 23 March the Director General of the European Commission’s DG Trade, Sabine Weyand, held discussions with MEPs on the upcoming review of the 15-point action plan on Sustainable Development Chapters (SDC) in trade agreements.
Many MEPs (Renew Europe, S&D, Greens/EFA, The Left) expect to see SDC chapters accompanied by sanctions for non-compliance. Sabine Weyand noted, as her deputy director had done a few months earlier (see EUROPE 12876/12), that dialogue and cooperation with trading partners should be given priority. According to her, the question of whether or not to introduce sanctions for these SDC chapters is not yet decided.
She also stressed the need for a case-by-case approach with partners. The EU cannot address Australia and Indonesia in the same terms regarding sustainable development in their trade agreement with the EU, she said. “Of course there are fundamental things that we would pursue in all trade agreements, for instance the respect of the Paris Agreement and respect of ILO core principles for instance”.
She joined Ánna-Michelle Assimakopoúlou MEP (EPP, Greece), who gave an example of these conventions: “In Australia, there is no national minimum working age, it is done by state. The country has never ratified the ILO convention on child labour and there are no problems there. Whereas we do see problems in other countries that have ratified the Convention. So we need to have a flexible approach”, she said.
MEPs asked the Director General about her vision for adapting existing trade agreements, which are currently being negotiated or ratified. For the former, it will simply be necessary to wait for their revision clause to include the new obligations, and not before, said Sabine Weyand. It is important not to “destabilise the network of partners”, she says.
The agreements under negotiation will, de facto, incorporate the revision of the chapters on sustainable development. The one with New Zealand, for example, “will be a first test case”. It is therefore expected to be concluded around the same time as the publication of the revised 15-point action plan, according to Sabine Weyand. The agreement with Australia should follow.
Agreements awaiting ratification will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. For Mercosur, it is a matter of agreeing with partners on additional obligations to limit deforestation. In the case of Chile, discussions with the new government need to take place to confirm intentions. Sabine Weyand insisted on the need to “secure” the agreement reached in all cases: “We should not put this agreement on the back burner”, she insisted. For Mexico too, political discussions are expected before moving forward. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)