Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-23-Speech-2-637-000"
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"en.20121023.49.2-637-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the European Conservatives and Reformist Group have always been one of the most pro-trade groups in this Parliament, if not the most pro-trade, and we have wanted as many trade agreements as possible.
In the absence of the WTO or any progress in the WTO and of my second choice, which would be comprehensive plurilateral agreements, we have to fall upon bilateral agreements, given that it is vital that we negotiate bilateral agreements with the largest economies of the world. Japan clearly falls into that category.
One of the things that we should remember in trade – and I say this as a former lecturer in international trade, to apologise for my former academic background – is that there is a myth in trade. Countries do not trade with each other; it is people and businesses that trade with people and businesses in other countries for mutual benefit. All that governments can do is either facilitate by getting out of the way or get in the way with tariff barriers or non-tariff barriers – and all too often we see governments get in the way with these barriers. So surely it is time during this agreement – during the negotiations on this agreement – to reduce as many barriers as possible. However, unfortunately – as other speakers have said – politicians can sometimes be persuaded by entrenched interests, and we are all politicians and are all susceptible to those entrenched interests. We have seen this happen over the course of the last 18 months in discussions about these agreements.
Some industry players have talked about certain barriers, but as one of the previous speakers said, one person’s health and safety standard is another person’s non-tariff barrier. So I think we have to be sensitive to what is a non-tariff barrier and what is not. We have to recognise that the EU-Japan agreement will be complex and that both sides will want to feel that their consumers and their domestic industries are gaining. So my colleagues here clearly wanted no agreement – or no start to that agreement – until we had overcome the whole list of non-tariff barriers. Now that is unrealistic to expect of any trading partner, and I am glad that the Commissioner has been a supporter – as have many of the other groups –of going forward with this agreement.
It is essential that we negotiate all these barriers and perceived barriers, but actually we know that, at the end of the day, we have the ability to stop this deal if we do not feel that enough has been done. Therefore I am pleased, and I hope that we will continue the momentum to launch these negotiations. If it helps – and I think it does help soothe some of those industry concerns – I support the binding review clause which allows the negotiating parties to step back after a year and to look at the agreement and consider whether the other side has done enough. We, the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty, have the ability to say that actually, enough has to been done. But at a time when the EU continues to be crippled by an anaemic if not negative growth rate, when we are burdened with debt mountains and when Japan itself has had two lost decades of growth, surely what we should be looking for is an enhanced trading relationship with Japan which is underpinned by a free trade agreement in order to generate a 1 % boost in the Union’s overall GDP and up to 400 000 jobs.
Japan has other interests and other options it can pursue, and we have to be careful that we are not played off against other parties negotiating trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated between the United States, Japan and a number of other countries. But overall, I think that the EU has a unique opportunity to lay a foundation stone that could bring untold benefits to all of Europe. It is my sincere hope that the European Parliament will show that it can be a responsible and trustworthy partner in an institutional legislative process and will give its seal of approval for the start of immediate negotiations with Japan."@en1
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