Deputies want rewards for EU’s trade partners with a conscience

Date: 16/02/06

MEPs have urged the European Commission to increase preferential access to the EU market for those countries which apply international labour and environmental standards. In a report on globalisation and the internal market, adopted on Tuesday (14 February), MEPs said further preferential treatment should be given to countries that have adopted legislation showing respect for cultural diversity.

The report, drafted by Hungarian Socialist Edit Herczog, urges the Commission to monitor "signs of protectionism in member states" and calls for the completion of the EU's internal market in particular in finances, labour and services.

It also calls on those member states which still maintain restrictions on free movement of workers from the new member states to eliminate these obstacles. This paragraph was the subject of dispute with MEPs from some old member states, in particular Germany, which has decided to prolong restrictions on workers from the new member states taking employment in the old EU. The Commission last week recommended that member states phase out these restrictions.

Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, in charge of the internal market, told MEPs that if globalisation was the question, "protectionism is not the answer".

On the eve of a crucial vote on the services directive (16 February), which aims at opening up the market for services in the EU, McCreevy regretted that the concept of the open market and a globalising economy had come under attack.

The report calls on the Commission to develop a "genuine EU industrial policy" and to "continue worldwide regulatory dialogue".

Suggesting that the EU's Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs might not be enough to cope with globalisation, MEPs requested other "lines of action to cushion the negative effects" and exploit the benefits. EU heads of state and government agreed last October at their Hampton Court summit to create a Globalisation Adjustment Fund to help victims of globalisation.

Article reports that MEPs urged the European Commission to increase preferential access to the EU market for those countries which were applying international labour and environmental standards. In an own-initiative report on the effects of globalisation on the internal market, drafted by Hungarian Socialist Edit Herczog and adopted on 14 February 2006, MEPs said further preferential treatment should be given to countries that have adopted legislation showing respect for cultural diversity.

European Parliament: A6-0021/2006: Report on the effects of globalisation on the internal market, 1.2.06 http://europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade3?PUBREF=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A6-2006-0021+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=0&NAV=S&LSTDOC=Y

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