Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-069"
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"en.20070522.8.2-069"2
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".
Mr President, I regard this report as very constructive, very realistic and very welcome.
As I said earlier this year in the Committee on International Trade, Mr Sturdy’s is a contribution which helps us look afresh at the challenges we face in these difficult, time-pressured talks. Yes, the EPA negotiations have moved slowly – more slowly, frankly, than anyone could possibly justify. But at the same time we have to recognise that these agreements are new, innovative and ambitious. When change is involved, people inevitably are uncertain and, therefore, want to tread carefully. We need to balance our need to complete these negotiations on time with our need to respect others’ uncertainties.
I fully agree with the starting point of the report, that appropriately designed EPAs are an opportunity to revitalise ACP-EU trading relations. In fact, I would say that they are our only real opportunity to stop the further slide of ACP trade into the commodity dependence and decreasing diversification that have typified ACP trade over the last quarter of a century. We looked for alternatives, and there is no shortage of suggestions and ideas. None provides the legally secure trade regime or links to development that EPAs do. None tackles the divisions between ACP countries in trade regimes that prevent regional markets emerging and lock countries into a North/South dependency.
So I am pleased that the report recognises the good faith and ambitious approach that we have taken. At the same time it recognises that trade is not the panacea for development. Only domestically driven policy reform built on firm foundations of good governance and an enabling environment for business and investment can secure the economic growth and development which the ACP countries seek. But I also agree that trade is critical to support and build on this reform and, in so doing, deliver inclusive growth and jobs. That is why I am determined that we will take the opportunity that EPAs present to us.
The development dimension of EPAs is in using market access, not merely granting it. It is investment finance, not merely development aid. This needs new rules fit for a globalised world, and this is why I am so keen that EPAs address issues such as competition policy, public procurement and trade facilitation. But we know our partners’ limits and will work with them to phase in change and to identify regionally specific needs and solutions. No one is talking about immediate overnight change or imposing rules. But we will keep talking. To turn away in the face of challenge would be to neglect our duty to give the ACP the economic future they deserve. We want to secure sustainable development, not unsustainable poverty.
The Sturdy report calls for full duty-free, quota-free market access into Europe, and this is what we propose. The Commission’s market access offer was made in April and proposes full access for all products with transitions for sugar and rice to protect the managed markets that the ACP rely on. This delivers on our promises to take the greatest commitments on market access and hand the full flexibility of WTO rules on exclusions and implementation over to the ACP themselves.
Everyone will be aware of the importance the ACP rightly attach to additional development support in this negotiation. This is a point on which Robert Sturdy sets out some very useful proposals. Funding is important. We must help the ACP grasp the new trading opportunities that EPAs will provide. The EPAs will not fail for lack of financial assistance – that I can guarantee. As part of this, we have suggested that EPA regional funds be established by each of the negotiating regions in order to build a tailor-made instrument, in line with international standards but owned and run by the ACP with ease of use. These funds, which would also be available to channel the support of other donors, could include institutional support to ensure that the capacity to implement the EPAs is there: private sector competitiveness – from access to finance to industrial retooling, to improving SPS standards; and helping out financially in those countries which face a fiscal challenge with the lowering of tariff barriers as revenues are shifted from governments to consumers.
So our ambition is clear: to build, through EPAs, a trade and development instrument which galvanises investment flows, internal demand, private sector activity and job creation and, in so doing, builds a sustainable fiscal base for ACP governments to operate, to provide basic services and to determine their own economic future free of WTO waivers, concessions and constraints.
Let me finish on a broader political point. There has been criticism, including from Members of this Parliament, of these negotiations, and concerns, particularly from our ACP partners, about the content, in some respects, of the negotiations. But we are now making headway in these negotiations. There is a positive dynamic to the negotiations. We have the real prospect of cementing a deep partnership for development between the EU and the ACP. The consequences of failure would be highly damaging to the EU and to the goal of balanced, dynamic growth in the ACP. That is why I welcome this report and Parliament’s support in delivering these agreements. I would like to express again my appreciation for the argument and the proposals and recommendations contained in it."@en1
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