European Commission to defend openness to import in Oct review
19 Sep '06
3 min read
Peter Mandelson
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has announced that the European Commission's October review of EU trade policy will focus on defending Europe's openness to imports while taking a more "activist" approach to opening markets, and securing fair treatment for EU companies abroad, chiefly in the large emerging markets of Brazil and Asia.
Delivering the annual Churchill Lecture in Berlin, Commissioner Mandelson argued that EU trade policy needs to become an integral part of the EU economic reform strategy: Trade is the conveyer belt of economic change, our trade policies today stand at the crossroads of our domestic and external policies.
And as globalisation removes the distinction between what we do at home and what we do abroad, we must adapt the tools of EU trade policy to new challenges, to contribute to the creation of jobs and opportunity, to secure the reciprocal opening we rightly demand from those who would also benefit from it.
We need strong, open economies to preserve the fiscal base to pay for social models that are integral to European life. And competitive economies are built on trade.
Mandelson said that a central strand of October's trade policy review would argue that the European Union should seek to build on and complement its commitment to the multilateral WTO trading system with a new generation of bilateral FTAs (Free Trade agreements) with key growing markets."
"He argued that while Europe continues to behighly competitive in global export markets, European companies are losing ground in the highest technology products and the fastest growing markets:
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