On Thursday 14 July, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) adopted a resolution (34 votes in favour, 0 against and 4 abstentions) welcoming the European Commission’s new strategy on trade and sustainable development. The Commission presented a long-awaited communication on this issue in June (see EUROPE 12977/13).
The report by Bernd Lange (S&D, German) welcomes the European Commission’s new approach of imposing sustainable development chapters in free trade agreements (FTAs) that can lead to sanctions. For Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero (S&D, Spanish) and most of her colleagues, “a significant step has been taken with this revision”.
MEPs also particularly appreciate that this new strategy is already being implemented in the EU-New Zealand trade agreement (see EUROPE 12992/24). The Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s DG Trade, Maria Martin Prat, was complimented and congratulated for her work on this matter during a discussion with MEPs of the INTA Committee on 14 July.
What about past agreements?
MEPs took the opportunity to ask for clarification, in particular on a point they raised in the adopted resolution: the fate of trade agreements already concluded or already in force. “How does the European Commission intend to initiate discussions to make concrete progress with all our partners?” asked Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Renew Europe, French).
Her colleague Samira Rafaela (Renew Europe, Dutch) asked the same question, but warned against reopening recently concluded agreements: “There is a need to move on with the agreements that are already concluded, like the one with Chile. Reopening the process might create distrust, I believe that’s not a good idea”, she said.
Maria Martin Prat reassured MEPs that the Commission intends to apply its new strategy to previous agreements. “If you look at the 20 specific actions that were identified, the large majority of them can be put into motion independently by the European Commission”. According to the Deputy Director General of DG Trade, this would involve strengthening exchanges with partners and domestic advisory groups (DAGs) or adapting the tasks of the joint committees within the agreement.
However, MEPs are awaiting clarification on this implementation and Ms Martin Prat has promised further explanations on the subject.
As for the idea of reopening certain agreements or negotiations, she said that caution should be exercised. “I would say let’s do that when there is an opportunity for a general review”, she said.
What about the role of the European Parliament?
Several MEPs also asked questions about their involvement in this implementation of sustainability chapters in trade. It was raised by the EPP group as well as Renew Europe.
The European Parliament has a role to play on several fronts, the Commission representative said. Firstly, it can serve as a privileged interlocutor to pass messages within the parliaments of the partner countries, which sometimes have to pass legislation as a result of certain elements of the agreement. MEPs also have very important powers of communication, in her view, whether it be with civil society, DAGs or companies. Finally, the monitoring groups in the European Parliament play a major role in verifying the effective implementation of agreements, she added.
In addition to the resolution, the INTA committee members submitted a series of four questions to the Commission, which is expected to answer them during the September plenary session. They are interested in the guarantees that the Commission can give regarding future agreements, the way in which it will approach partners to ensure such a level of ambition, and more.
See the adopted resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/2n2
See the questions submitted to the Commission: https://aeur.eu/f/2n3 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)