Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-10-Speech-3-659"
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"en.20100210.33.3-659"2
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"Madam President, if I were to try to give a balanced answer to all the questions that have been put and to all the matters that have been raised, I would need, I think, at least half an hour. I have only two or three minutes if I understand rightly.
When you look at this in terms of trade deficit, it is true that the trade deficit with China has gone up considerably, but when you look at the global trade deficit with Asia, this did not go up that much. Also, within Asia, the other Asian countries are facing very fierce competition from China.
So what we should do is become stronger ourselves. I believe that achieving this transatlantic marketplace, for example, is one of the best answers we can give.
We have a recent report, produced at the request of Parliament, which shows that, if you were able to reduce by 50% the non-tariff barriers between Europe and the United States, this would have an effect which would be much larger than the Doha Round. We should work on that, but, having said this, it is not easy at all.
Speaking of the Doha Round, I staunchly believe that we should try to close that round because it has a lot of important features, among them, that the existing tariffs cannot go up any more, that we would be able to close them down. Secondly, there is a strong developmental approach in the Doha Round, provided, of course, that we can keep it as it stands now, and that should be the goal of the European Commission.
There was also the question by David Martin on the Robin Hood tax. First of all, I must say that I like the name Robin Hood much better than Tobin. But apart from that, I fear the Robin Hood tax is facing the same problems as the Tobin tax, that you can only do it if it happens on a global scale. You should also bear in mind that doing this, even on a global scale, would imply a very costly implementing mechanism to put it into place. President Barroso said about the Tobin tax that we are ready to support it as long as everybody else does, and that, of course, is the sticking point in all this.
A last word on – Mr Higgins, amongst others, asked a question – speculation and what came about from that, and also with respect to Greece.
This is not a debate on Greece so I am not going to go into the details of it, but I think, sincerely speaking, that some fault also lies with Greece itself. What you cannot have in a global economy, and what you cannot have in the European Union either, is moral hazard. Being a Member State of the European Union also implies some obligations. So Member States who get into a difficult position – and certainly we are ready to support them and help them whenever possible – should also realise that they have to obey the rules and if they obey the rules, then probably they will not get into the difficult situation they are in now.
Having said this, let me start with a general remark. I really do not believe that protectionism is a solution. Whether you are a believer or not, looking back into history, it is thanks to international trade that our countries have become prosperous.
Secondly, Europe has a transformative economy, which means that we have to import to be able to export. The idea that we could export without importing is completely false and contradictory to the facts.
So I staunchly believe that we should have free trade agreements with major economic partners, that we should make a success of the Doha Round and that we should further liberalise international trade, but that does not mean that we should not take into account the fact that this international trade also has to be fair and that we are entitled to protect our interests. The Commission is certainly going to do so when necessary and we will use the TDI mechanisms we have to have an impact on what we consider to be unfair distortions of trade.
Some very specific questions have also been asked, by Mr Jadot, for example, on the meeting on 4 February at the WTO and what the result of this was. Well, the main message at that meeting was that the rules of the General Agreement on Trade in Services are not an obstacle to the right of countries to ensure effective financial regulation. The reason is that GATS has a very broad scope for financial prudential measures, so this financial regulation, be it at national or European level, is certainly not contradictory to the GATS rules.
That brings me to the origins of the crisis we are going through. Hopefully, the major part is behind us. I am firmly convinced that it has had a major impact on trade, but that the origin of this crisis lies with financial imbalances which resulted from completely wrong choices by financial institutions. The financial crisis did not originate in Europe; it came to Europe and to the rest of the world from the United States.
I can agree that the food crisis of a couple of years ago, which was still not completely resolved and digested, let us say, has added to big imbalances, especially for the developing countries. You can say a lot about developing countries, about good governance and so on, but you certainly cannot lay the blame on the developing countries for being at the origin of the financial crisis. That is obvious, and they are very severely hit by that crisis, so we should take that into due consideration.
There have also been some questions, the last time by Mr Caspary and one by Mr Jadot too, asking what are we going to do with the TEC and with the strategic initiative for China?
My personal opinion is that the only good response to the economic development of China – which we are not going to stop, by the way – the only good response is to become stronger ourselves. I think that is the only good response."@en1
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