Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-101"
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"en.20030618.8.3-101"2
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"Madam President, I too appreciated Commissioner Lamy’s statement, although I am quite aware that the future of textiles and clothing companies, which are already in difficulties because of the appreciation of the dollar, will depend on the decisions made within the WTO. Removing quantitative barriers should provide a chance of growth even for the small and medium-sized enterprises which operate in the textiles regions of Europe. These enterprises must be able to extend their interests to new markets and invent new forms of cooperation with the countries entering the international market. The abolition
of the MultiFibre Agreement will, however, lead to a situation which is characterised by more intense, concentrated competition in the mature markets. We are not, of course, asking for protectionist measures; on the contrary, we are calling for more open, transparent markets, as Mrs Ferrer has said. It is inevitable that globalisation of the markets should facilitate the decentralisation of many traditional activities towards developing countries, where production costs are lower. The fight to eradicate poverty and disseminate prosperity must be furthered by the elimination of customs barriers, but the fact cannot be disregarded that the activities of many European industries are under greater threat from social and environmental dumping than from economic competition.
We would therefore like to focus on a number of points mentioned by the Commissioner. Access must be improved for Community products, which are usually of higher quality, to third markets, many of which are protected by high
duties and non-tariff barriers. The liberalisation process must go hand in hand with a guarantee of reciprocity, as the Commissioner has rightly said. The textiles and clothing industry must be shielded from unfair competition, which means that minimum standards of protection of the working environment must be guaranteed. Lastly, given our experiences in other fields, not least, we should explore the possibility of launching a process which makes a quality label mandatory for textiles and clothing products, to provide a guarantee to the consumer but also to curb the flows of illegal imports which jeopardise economic growth and the proper functioning of international trade."@en1
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