Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-14-Speech-4-120"
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"en.20001214.3.4-120"2
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"We are now discussing our report on the situation in world shipbuilding. We have two documents from the Commission before us, namely the second and third reports on the situation in world shipbuilding, both of which have been presented in the past six months. The opinion which we unanimously adopted in the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy related to the second report. The third report had not appeared by that time, and the Commission and the Council have subsequently reached a decision on whether the deadline for phasing out aid to shipyards can be extended beyond the scheduled date of 31 December 2000.
To our deep regret, the Commission and the Council have not decided to extend the provision of aid to shipyards, even though the plight of the shipbuilding industry has not become any less desperate. This situation stems from the fact that South Korea has been employing aggressive methods and offering its vessels at dumping prices in order to increase its share of the world shipbuilding market. South Korea has received more than 40% of all the shipbuilding orders that have been placed in the year 2000, according to the Commission report; it has been able to do this on the basis of loans from South Korean banks, some of which are state-owned, by virtue of state guarantees which are tantamount to subsidisation. The prices of new ships have plummeted in recent years, reaching an all-time low in 1999 because of this policy that South Korea is pursuing.
Europe, including Norway, only has a 16% share of the world shipbuilding market. Japan, with a 25% share, lies in second place behind Korea, while the rest of the entire world, including the United States, accounts for no more than 19%, and that in an industry in which labour costs have long been supplanted by technology as the main production factor. It is this capital-intensive structure of the industry which enables outsiders to check pricing calculations and make comparative assessments.
We in the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy welcomed the fact that the European Commission has taken steps to have the issue resolved by means of a dispute-settlement procedure before the World Trade Organisation. At the request of the European shipbuilding industry, this procedure has now been initiated, as Commissioner Lamy emphasised yesterday in talks with South Korean parliamentarians in this House. And rightly so! But despite the Agreed Minutes of 22 June 2000 on the technical issues, on accounting transparency and banking operations, there has been no sign of willingness on the part of the South Korean Government or of the shipyards and the shipbuilding industry to reach a consensus with the European Union on pricing. One reason for this is the fact that the 1996 framework agreement on trade and cooperation has still not been ratified by all Member States. The Commission's target of January 2001 can only be met, in my view, if the Republic of Korea finally demonstrates willingness in the coming weeks to stop selling ships below local cost price; to put it bluntly, it must raise its prices.
The decision taken by the Council and the Commission to negotiate for four months without continuing the payment of aid and then, after 1 May 2001, to reconsider, on the basis of the progress achieved in these negotiations, whether there are grounds for resuming aid payments for a further period will mean that European shipyards will receive virtually no new orders in the first four months of the year 2001, at least not for the shipping categories in which competition is fiercest. Even in our own area of specialisation – the construction of cruise ships – the South Koreans are able to offer ships below the prevailing international market price. That is why, in this report and the three additional motions on the table, we have called on the Commission to intensify its efforts to ensure that an international dispute-settlement procedure is initiated before the WTO.
But we are also calling for a two-year extension of aid to shipyards in order to ensure that a major industry in the European Union is not wiped out by state-aided Korean dumping practices. If the aid arrangements are not extended – and we are not talking here about EU aid, as you know, but national aid, which the Union need only approve – then we shall have to think about the fact that the European shipbuilding industry has already reduced its capacity and that the present limits will then have to fall still further. These are the main demands we make in this report, and I thank my committee colleagues for their unanimous support. I ask for your support again tomorrow morning when the House votes on the report, and I urge the Commission not to abandon the shipbuilding industry and those who work in it. At least 10 000 jobs are at stake, with the United Kingdom poised to bear the brunt of the cuts."@en1
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