Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-01-Speech-4-038"
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"en.20070201.4.4-038"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner McCreevy, ladies and gentlemen, it is because the question raised by the Committee on International Trade on the problem of procurement at WTO level directly affects the European internal market that I believe that we have to consider these more closely. Of course, on the one hand, it is the WTO agreement that is at issue here, but, on the other, it must also be clear to us that these international treaties – as is the way of things with globalisation – have direct effects on the European internal market.
Mr Kamall pointed out that, in a number of WTO member states, the United States of America being one of them, certain quotas are to be adhered to even now in the award of national contracts to small and medium-sized enterprises, which means, at the end of the day, nothing other than that the scope of the procurement regulation laid down by the WTO is being restricted. I would like to see an impact assessment indicating whether or not this is of any long-term benefit to small and medium-sized enterprises; that it is, in any case, not certain.
As long as we do not know that for certain, we do not need to worry about the limitation of scope, for it is of course the case that small and medium-sized enterprises live from markets that are as transparent as possible and that they find easiest to access, and if the WTO member states reduce the scope by a quarter, I do not know whether small and medium-sized businesses actually derive any benefit from that.
It would surely be a worthwhile exercise – and it is with this in mind that I, too, support this question – if the Commission were to be able to examine this closely and show us whether this does have positive effects on small and medium-sized businesses.
In the Council, of course – none of whose representatives are, alas, present – a balance must be found between those who would favour an approach like that of the USA and those who want to see the precise opposite of that, that is to say, the reduction of quotas to create a free and open market right across the WTO, giving small and medium-sized enterprises a chance everywhere.
It is for that reason that I believe that the crucial problem for small and medium-sized enterprises in this respect is much more that we have not yet really got a handle on the problem of sub-contractors, for it is in that capacity that small and medium-sized enterprises are often used, being in that way able to create jobs and have the chance to earn money, but they are, ultimately, managed from higher up and that often puts them in a difficult position, with their feet in two different camps.
What I think we should do is give this problem, in particular, closer attention, and so I would be glad if the Commission were to give some thought to this and keep us up to speed with what is going on. In other words, it should start by addressing the problem to which this question refers and then we can make definite demands of the Commissioner."@en1
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