The European Commission plans to sign its Advanced Framework Agreement and its EU/Chile Interim Trade Agreement by autumn, once they have been legally reviewed and translated, but this is far too long, according to the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), Bernd Lange (S&D, German).
“Regarding the calendar, I am quite amazed. It is far too slow. [...] We have elections next year and my clear objective is to have ratification in this legislature. I ask you to speed up the procedure”, he said in the INTA committee on Tuesday 24 January.
Yet this is a record time, according to the agreement’s chief negotiator, Paolo Garzotti, and head of unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE).
“We will try to proceed as quickly as possible, but it is a complex and important job, especially as we have a new architecture for this agreement. And, frankly, I was scolded both in the European Commission and in the EU Council, because things were already moving too fast”.
He explained to MEPs that the deadlines were unavoidable because of the legal review and translation, which take several months each.
MEPs are generally enthusiastic about the forthcoming signing of the agreement, which they see as beneficial for both the EU and Chile. They are all the more eager to ratify the ITA as the review process of the agreement can then start and potentially allow for the inclusion of sanctions for non-compliance with sustainable development obligations (see EUROPE 13081/19), which is not the case in the agreement negotiated at the moment. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)