General

Recently, 15 EU member states issued a joint initiative, asking the European Commission to speed up the internal approval process of free trade agreements to ensure the EU's long-term economic growth and world geopolitical status.

The 15 member countries include the Czech Republic, Sweden, Spain, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia.

In a letter to EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovsky, the ministers of economy, foreign affairs and trade of the aforementioned countries agreed that the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the need to build resilient supply chains, strategic partnerships and open trade. necessity. With different economies vying for leadership and establishing new alliances, and trade is one of the important tasks of the EU, accelerating its own trade development is an urgent task for the EU.

As the world's largest trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, covering China, Japan, Australia and other countries, was signed in November 2020, and it took just over a year to complete and enter into force in early 2022. In contrast, the issue of EU procedures taking too long should be a wake-up call.

In 2019, the EU and Mercosul, a group of South American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, agreed on the text of a free trade agreement, but the agreement was subsequently blocked due to fears of damage to forests in the Amazon region. Meanwhile, the EU-Mexico agreement in 2018 has yet to be submitted for approval. At present, the EU is also in trade negotiations with Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India and other countries. EU officials noted that France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has put progress on a trade deal on hold because of its presidential and parliamentary elections.

After France's six-month rotating term, the Czech Republic will take over the EU's rotating presidency from July 1 this year, followed by Sweden and Spain. Respect for agreed agreements and environmental protection will be core priorities for Sweden's rotating presidency, said Anna Hallberg, Sweden's trade minister and founder of the initiative.