Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-351"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010214.11.3-351"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – Mr President, Mr Seguro mentioned at the end of his contribution the terrible situation in El Salvador. I would like to take this opportunity to inform Parliament that today I have decided to release another EUR 5 to 8 million to support people in El Salvador. This is quite significant.
Turning to the matter under discussion, Mexico has gone through a radical modernisation process over the last decade. The NAFTA agreement has played an important role in this. It led to a major increase of trade and investment flows between the US and Mexico and also Canada. Neither the EU nor Mexico wanted the NAFTA agreement to result in less intense relations between the EU and Mexico. We both accepted the challenge and decided to adapt our relations. This culminated with the entry into force last October of our economic partnership, political coordination and cooperation agreement, often called the global agreement. This agreement, which consists of a free trade area, political dialogue and cooperation provisions reinforces Mexico's existing relations with Europe.
Due to the very complex distribution of competence between the Community and its Member States, the free trade agreement is made up of two separate legal texts. The first, Decision 2/2000, covers the areas of Community competence and was adopted by the Joint Council in Lisbon on 23 March 2000 after Parliament gave its opinion on 16 March 2000. It entered into force on 1 July 2000. The second text covers the remaining areas – services, investment and intellectual property – and should be adopted by the Joint Council on 27 February 2001.
The later text, which we are debating today, will liberalise services in two phases. Firstly by including a stand-still clause which prevents both parties from introducing new discriminatory measures or reinforcing the existing ones. This clause only applies to discriminatory measures and therefore does not exclude the possibility of adopting new, restrictive, non-discriminatory rules in order, for instance, to protect the environment further. Secondly, this decision provides for the elimination of substantially all remaining discrimination between the parties over a maximum period of ten years.
The decision will comply with GATS rules – mainly the obligation not to exclude any sector from the liberalisation process. Moreover the text includes measures concerning investments and related payments which complete the undertakings already made by both parties at the OECD and through bilateral agreements signed between Mexico and most of the Member States. The European Parliament has been invited to give its opinion on this second decision. Once this decision is adopted by the Joint Council on 27 February 2001, the free trade agreement will be fully in place.
But this decision has also a bigger impact. The global agreement will be fully implemented and thus the political dialogue and the cooperation pillars will enter effectively into force. Mexico is traditionally one of the EU's most important trading partners in Latin America with a significant growth potential, and the EU is Mexico's second trading partner after the US. The achievement of the free trade agreement will provide EC operators with access to the Mexican market similar to NAFTA.
Our trading relationship, which has declined over previous years, should improve markedly now that we are able to compete on a level playing field with the US and Canadian products and services. We should be satisfied by what we have achieved in this area. The EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement is the first agreement of this type which the EU has signed with a Latin American country.
Apart from trade, we should make full use of this comprehensive agreement to further deepen our already excellent bilateral relations with Mexico. The institutionalised high level political dialogue will provide a good tool to agree on common positions, on issues of mutual interest: for instance, UN reform, efforts to launch a new WTO round and the human rights situation of both parties. The agreement will provide us with new possibilities for cooperation on the basis of the guidelines laid down for the period 2000-2006, whether on strengthening the rule of law, judicial reform, tackling poverty or investing in human resources. It is a new, very ambitious beginning. I share the views expressed by most Members in this debate, and we will be very happy to see this flourish in the coming years."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples