Prospects for a new transatlantic trade relationship
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 27 September 2000 (29th Sitting) (see Doc. 8752, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, rapporteur: Mr Bonet Casas). Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 September 2000 (29thSitting).
- Thesaurus
1. North America and Europe together form the
world’s closest and most important trading and investment relationship. In the
wake of the failure of the December 1999 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Summit
in Seattle, it is vital that this relationship be maintained and strengthened –
for the economic, political and security benefit of both continents, and by
implication for the world at large. The Assembly, against this background,
welcomes the United States and Canada-European Union summit statements in late
December 1999 calling for continued efforts to find an improved basis for
multilateral trade negotiations, incorporating public participation and areas
such as labour issues, the environment and the concerns of developing
countries.
2. It is furthermore important that transatlantic economic relations do not
focus on the United States and the European Union (EU) alone, but that they
encompass all North American and European countries and trade groupings, taking
their interests into due account – especially at a time when the EU is
embarking on a major enlargement and over thirty North, Central and South
American countries are negotiating for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
to enter into force by 2005.
3. The importance of strengthening transatlantic trade and economic
relationships was underscored by a two-day seminar hosted by the Canadian
Parliament in October 1998 on the theme: Beyond NAFTA to a Canada-Europe
Transatlantic Marketplace. In addition to the valuable understanding gained
about key dimensions of the North American free trade area and its performance
from a Canadian perspective – including the need for further progress on
dispute settlement and on related environmental, labour, social and cultural
issues, such as long-range transboundary pollution, workplace and labour
conditions, and foreign ownership of cultural industries – the Assembly
welcomes the Canadian desire to move beyond the North American Free Trade
Agreement (Nafta) relationship and in that context to reinvigorate
transatlantic ties. The Assembly endorses efforts to pursue forward-looking
policy options for deepening transatlantic economic links between North America
and Europe, with the objective of realising mutual benefits from closer
economic integration between these two vital regions.
4. The Assembly recognises the many contentious issues that continue to
render transatlantic trade relations more difficult. It believes, however, that
much more unites than divides the different parties, and that negotiations –
whether at transatlantic or WTO level – are especially called for at a time of
rapid globalisation, growing concern about unsustainable development and the
weakening of social cohesion, new security challenges and an emerging new world
political order.
5. Such talks should include not only contentious issues such as
agriculture, food safety and culture, but also promote measures to reduce
poverty, enhance social cohesion and promote sustainable development as well as
areas where further liberalisation could bring added gains in prosperity, such
as services, intellectual property rights and the mutual recognition of
standards, testing and verification requirements, along the lines of the
European Union -United States Mutual Recognition Agreement of 1997.
6. The Assembly in this context welcomes the Observer status of Canada and,
more recently, Mexico, and pledges to work to broaden political and economic
contacts between these countries and all Council of Europe member states –
including in its capacity as a parliamentary forum for institutions such as the
WTO, the OECD, the Central European Free Trade Agreement (Cefta) and the
European Free Trade Association (Efta). Efta also entertains close relations
with both these countries. The Assembly encourages the further development of
transatlantic processes, building on and moving forward from recent Canadian
and Mexican initiatives to strengthen trade ties with Efta and the European
Union.
7. The Assembly, while noting the trade and economic gains brought about by
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – concluded in 1994 between
Canada, Mexico and the United States – urges further efforts to deal with the
social, environmental and cultural impacts of increasing regional integration,
as well as to ensure that governments retain the capacity to regulate markets
in the public interest of their citizens. The Assembly welcomes North America’s
intensifying relations with other countries of the Americas through the FTAA
process – as it does the 1999 European Union-Mercosur Summit – and trusts that
such hemispheric and inter-regional contacts may in due course contribute to a
wider and deeper transatlantic trade relationship.
8. The Assembly is encouraged by the strong Canadian parliamentary support
for transatlantic initiatives to strengthen and expand economic ties with
Europe. Moreover, in the event of multilateral negotiations stalling at the
WTO, inter-regional approaches could take on added significance and could lead
to the establishment of some form of Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement. The
Assembly notes the willingness of the Commission of the European Union to
examine such a prospect, provided that a strong economic case can be made for a
transatlantic accord. Given the potential benefits from a closer trading
arrangement, the Assembly calls on decision-makers on both sides of the
Atlantic to undertake further detailed evaluations in order to identify the
best means for promoting stronger bilateral and inter-regional economic links
between Europe and North America. In the Assembly’s view, working to advance
transatlantic trade objectives, with parliamentary and public support, could
have the added benefit of lending valuable momentum to the processes of
launching a new global round of trade negotiations.
9. Finally, the Assembly strongly endorses efforts to enhance the
parliamentary accountability of international trade policy structures and
negotiating processes at all levels – national, regional, and multilateral –
with transatlantic initiatives contributing to wider progress at the global
level. The Assembly welcomes WTO Director General Michael Moore’s support for
establishing closer co-operation between the WTO and the parliamentary world,
including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Assembly
pledges to work – in its regular contacts with the WTO through its Committee on
Economic Affairs and Development – in favour of a reorganisation of the WTO
process, through which efficiency in negotiations can be combined with greater
transparency and better communication with the public, and where areas such as
labour and social standards, environmental protection and cultural diversity
can be incorporated into final decisions.
