The Minister for Business and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)
My noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Minister for Intellectual Property (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) has today made the following statement.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) took place in Brussels on 21 November 2014.
I represented the UK on all the issues discussed at the meeting. A summary of those discussions follows.
The EU’s High Representative Vice President addressed the Council to say she hoped to participate as much as possible in future Trade FACs in order to co-ordinate trade and foreign policy, emphasising among other things the political aspects of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) implementation with the eastern neighbourhood.
Two legislative items were discussed:
Protection of the European Union against dumped imports.
The presidency and the Commission expressed disappointment that no compromise has been found between member states on this file.
I, along with the other trade liberals, reiterated that no package could be considered balanced that restricted the use of the Lesser Duty Rule (LDR). I reminded the Council that EU producers and consumers had been saved millions of euros thanks to the LDR, and limiting it could harm EU growth.
Some member states argued that removing the LDR in certain circumstances would create a level playing field. Other member states took positions between these. The presidency concluded more work was needed on this file.
The International Procurement Instrument.
The presidency took stock of progress on the International Procurement Instrument (intended to permit the EU to close a procurement market where a non-EU country’s procurement market was similarly closed). The presidency highlighted its compromise proposals, which reflected the European Parliament’s amendments, and reiterated that access to the EU’s public procurement market needed to be used as leverage in negotiations with third countries. The presidency invited the Commission and European Parliament to consider further. Trade Commissioner Malmstrom spoke in support of the Instrument.
Non-Legislative items:
WTO - Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
Along with other member states I warmly supported the Commission’s report that the DDA work programme implementing the outcome of the December 2013 9 Ministerial Conference in Bali seemed set to get back on track, following the recent agreement between the US and India on how to unblock the stalemate relating to food security in the proposed trade facilitation agreement. Along with other member states, I warmly supported this.
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP— the EU-US Free Trade Agreement).
The presidency (Calenda) emphasised the economic and systemic importance of the deal. The aim remained to conclude an ambitious agreement rapidly, ahead of a change in US administration. TTIP was also a way to unlock growth without spending taxpayers’ money.
Trade Commissioner Malmstrom reiterated her transparency announcement of earlier in the week, that access to TTIP texts would be expanded and TTIP negotiating proposals would be made public. Busting myths was agreed as important. For example, it was agreed that TTIP would not threaten national public services, such as the NHS, as policy over such public services would remain a matter for member states.
All member states agreed on the importance of the deal. I urged the Commission to use the window of opportunity before the end of the President Obama Administration, and welcomed plans for increased transparency.
EU-Japan and EU-Vietnam.
Commissioner Malmstrom presented the state-of-play in the negotiations with Japan. The FTA, worth potentially over €40 billion (£31 billion) to the EU in the long term, was a high priority. Discussions had been challenging recently but successful and would now speed up. Both sides wanted to reach political agreement in 2015.
On the EU-Vietnam FTA, the Commissioner reported that negotiations were going well and remained confident about conclusion in spring 2015.