EU Trade Commissioner gives evidence to House of Lords
On 6 September 201, Karel de Gucht, EU Trade Commissioner, appeared before the House of Lords EU Sub Committee A (Economic and Financial Affairs, and International Trade) which scrutinises EU proposals on economics, finance and international trade.
Commissioner De Gucht gave a presentation lasting more than an hour covering the development of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy since the Lisbon Treaty, including the role of the European Parliament in trade policy, MEPs’ views and priorities, the role of trade policy in enhancing the EU’s competitiveness and export growth, and the consequent need to maintain open markets and avoid protectionism. In answer to questions from the Committee, Commissioner de Gucht discussed the current difficulties among participants in the WTO Doha Development Round in agreeing on objectives for concluding the Round, the options for further multilateral and bilateral negotiations on goods, services and agriculture, the current EU debate on the role of reciprocity in trade policy, the future of the Generalised System of Preferences, and the need, as far as the EU was concerned, for a satisfactory narrative on human rights and social policy objectives in relation to trade policy. He also offered comments on the “Arab Spring” and ways in which countries that had embarked on benign political change might, if EU member-states agreed, be helped through EU trade policy measures.
From the UK point of view, it was interesting that Commissioner de Gucht consistently identified the UK as on the liberal wing of EU member-states in trade policy formation. From TheCityUK’s standpoint, his most interesting remarks were in a brief response to a question from Lord Vallance (previously Chairman of the European Services Forum) on difficulties in concluding negotiations on services. Commissioner de Gucht identified a number of areas of difficulty, including certain countries’ reluctance to conclude Economic Partnership Agreements containing a services chapter, and regional “circles of influence” militating against multilateral agreements on services. He went on to criticise one argument – he described it as “new” - being used against agreements on liberalising financial services, namely that the financial crisis of 2008 was the result of globalisation of financial services. This argument – with which he disagreed – was, he said, being deployed for protectionist reasons by those who asserted that liberalisation would lead to the spread of financial crises on a world-wide scale. For his part, he could identify a number of quite separate difficulties that had emerged in services negotiations, and might furnish the Committee with a written statement of his views.
Commissioner de Gucht’s entire session with the Committee can be viewed on the UK Parliament website.
