Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-23-Speech-3-363"
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"en.20080423.24.3-363"2
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"The discussion on the evolution of negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement between the European Community and the Gulf Cooperation Council caught my attention, taking into account the visit I recently made to the region, together with the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the Gulf States.
For this reason, when economic issues are negotiated, increased attention should implicitly be given to the laws regarding the respect for the rights of immigrant workers and women.
The subjects discussed during the interparliamentary meetings included the negotiation of this agreement as well.
The GCC representatives declared that Europeans were creating pressure for unlimited access to numerous investment opportunities, while the GCC is interested not only in acquiring capital, but also in the need for technology and managerial know-how.
On the one hand, the negotiations started should have been completed in 2006, but, as we say, they are continuing and the reasons are imputable to both parties.
The European Union feels that the GCC members lack coordination and reform and the latter complain of an interminable list of requirements that the Gulf States must meet.
Some of the most important were brought to mind by the Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson: market access, marking the origin of products, governmental licences, measures for protecting investment, as well as criteria for their guarantee in the GCC.
For this reason, I believe that, by concluding the Free Trade Agreement, both parties would officially commit to economic cooperation with mutually important gains: development of energy cooperation, economic and technological development of the region and, implicitly, an increased impact on environmental protection, creation of a common market and an increase in European investments are only some of them.
On the other hand, a sensitive debate in the region refers to the problem of respect for human rights. The Union has a very important role in the international economy but, at the same time, it is also one of the main promoters of the respect for fundamental human rights.
The discussions I had with the representatives of the most active NGOs in the region revealed very clearly the opportunity provided by the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement to put pressure on the Gulf States to provide more civil and political freedoms to the citizens of these countries."@en1
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