Minister Steven Vanackere addresses the European Parliament Committee on International Trade
On Tuesday 13 July the Minister for Foreign Trade, Steven Vanackere, addressed the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (the INTA Committee). He commented on the priorities of the Belgian Presidency with respect to trade.
For the Belgian Presidency, the first priority continues to be the Doha Round, although there is no doubt that bilateral and regional trade negotiations are important alongside the multilateral track. The Minister provided a breakdown of the regional and bilateral negotiations where the Belgian Presidency wanted to see progress with the European institutions. With regard to bilateral negotiations, the free trade agreement with South Korea was at the top of the list. The Minister promised that the Council would do its utmost to submit the final text of the agreement to the Parliament for approval after the summer recess.
The Minister also dealt at length with the new Community trade policy brought about by the Lisbon Treaty. The Belgian Presidency would abide by the letter and spirit of the Treaty and regularly inform the Parliament of progress with the negotiations. The Lisbon Treaty had also given the EU new powers with respect to direct foreign investment. On 8 July the Commission had published its long-awaited regulation and communication on this matter. The Minister promised to relaunch debate in the Council.
The Minister also expanded on the trade relationship with our key trade partners, the USA, China and Russia. In addition, he reiterated the European position with respect to negotiations on a plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Likewise, considerable thought was given to development. Also on the agenda were further trade negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements with ACP countries and a review of the Generalised System of Preferences.
The speech was followed by a productive question and answer session between the Minister and Parliament members. The key questions posed by Parliament members related to the role that could be played by the European Parliament under the new European trade policy.
