The European Parliament has approved the ‘anti-coercion’ tool in its final form after MEPs voted in favour of the text by 578 votes to 24 with 19 abstentions on Tuesday 3 October. The provisional agreement between the European Parliament and the EU Council was reached in June under the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 13195/1). Once adopted by the Council, this regulation will enable the EU to impose countermeasures on a third country exercising economic coercion on the Union or one of its Member States.
The text’s rapporteur, Bernd Lange (S&D, German), welcomed its content and, in particular, the various options for action available to the EU: “No country should be able to speculate as to what measure they will expect as a countermeasure, and judge whether it is worth it or not. That’s why having this wide range of measures available is important”.
These range from punitive tariffs to exclusion from European programmes and restricting access to EU public procurement.
The future adoption of the text and its entry into force will mark a milestone in the EU’s new, more defensive trade policy.
Also, on Tuesday 3 October, the Commission proposed new precautionary measures for so-called critical technologies, which are exported to third countries (see other news).
Read the text: https://aeur.eu/f/8un (Original version by Léa Marchal)