Trade Package

ECON-VI/029
Adopted

Trade Package

 Adoption: 23/03/2018
 Theme: Enterprise and Industry
Commission: Commission for Economic Policy (ECON-VI)
• to express the CoR political views on the Trade package announced by President Juncker in the SOTEU speech and adopted by the Commission the day after • to highlight the views and concerns of LRAs with regard to the proposed regulation establishing a framework for screening of foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EU, which is the first legislation on FDI at EU level • to strengthen further the position of the CoR in relation to the need to enhance transparency and democratic legitimacy of EU trade policy notably through the territorial impact assessments which can be a powerful tool in identifying and quantifying – before the beginning of negotiations – the impact of a given trade deal on European regions, thus facilitating more sound, informed, transparent and evidence-based decisions to be made regarding the content of the deal and enabling tailor-made support to be given to the regions concerned to help anticipate or manage its impact • to highlight the views and concerns of LRAs with regard to the Commission's non-paper on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters in EU Free Trade Agreement (FTAs) • to highlight the views and concerns of LRAs with regard to the multilateral investment court (MIC) • to reiterate the CoR political views in relation to the key role played by the EGF in supporting those bearing the consequences of global market opening, and in particular those who have been made redundant because of this and because of the global crisis and the CoR's concrete proposals on the overhaul of the EGF in the future programming period as those proposals were outlined in the CoR opinion on Strengthening territorial resilience: empowering regions and cities to face globalisation
-On 22 January 2018, the ECON commission in the context of the opinion drafting process organised a workshop on International trade and globalisation – Implications for regional growth, employment and industrial renewal. During the workshop, the main findings of the study on Interactions between Trade, Investment and Trends in the EU Industry: EU regions in international trade conducted by the European Parliamentary Research Service at the request of the European Committee of the Regions was presented. Moreover, the draft findings of the OECD paper "Productivity and jobs in a globalised world: (How) Can all regions benefit?" was also presented. This paper provided ideas on how to complement trade policy with a view to strengthening regional economic resilience and helping all regions to unlock their growth potential. -On 24 April 2018 the ECON Commission held a structured dialogue on Enhancing the Democratic Dimension of EU trade policy: the role of regions and cities, with Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade. The Commissioner stressed that the more engagement between local authorities and Member States, the better as this is how the Commission gathers evidence on the positive and negative effects of EU trade policy on the ground. She also underlined that information from all levels - national, regional and local - will be critical in how the EU responds to globalisation. In this context the Commissioner invited the CoR to become an observer to the recently established expert Group on EU Trade Agreements. -On 16 May 2018, the CoR rapporteur intervened in the debate on the reflexion paper on harnessing globalistaion in the EP INTA Committee meeting. The rapporteur stressed the role of EGF in helping regions deal with the negative impact of globalisation and recalled the CoR proposals (as developed in the opinion on the Trade Package) aimed to improve the way it operates.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  holds the view that trade policy is being called upon to deal with multifaceted challenges by striking the right balance between multiple objectives;  underlines the key role played by the EGF in supporting people losing their jobs as a result of structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalization; reiterates, however, the need, to reform the way it operates;  emphasises the key role of cohesion policy in ensuring an adequate level of public investment in the regions and territories of the EU that are marginalised from trade flows;  recalls the CoR's position that it is imperative that any further step in trade liberalisation be preceded by territorial impact assessments which can be a powerful tool in identifying and quantifying – before the beginning of negotiations – the impact of a given trade deal on European regions, thus facilitating more sound, informed, transparent and evidence-based decisions to be made regarding the content of the deal and enabling tailor-made support to be given to the regions concerned to help anticipate or manage its impact;  repeats its longstanding position that future EU trade agreements must not prevent government at all levels from providing, supporting or regulating public services, or from expanding the range of services they offer to the public , or from providing for the inclusion of certain social clauses; stresses the need for a balance between the way private investor rights are protected – with sanction mechanisms – and the way workers' rights are upheld – currently without such mechanisms.
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