Download Informal Meeting between ESF and members of the

Brussels, 18 August 2010
INFORMAL MEETING BETWEEN ESF AND MEMBERS OF THE
TRADE POLICY COMMITTEE ON SERVICES OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
- Brussels, Tuesday, 8th June 2010 _____________________________________________________________
DRAFT MINUTES
I.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
The ESF Policy Committee Chairman thanked the Spanish Presidency for accepting the ESF
invitation and welcomed all the participants from the EU Member States (see list of participants
attached at the end of this document).
Mrs. Maria Ortiz Aguilar, Chair of the TPC Services and Investments welcomed the possibility to
interact with the services industry through these regular informal meetings. She underlined that
companies are the major actors of the trade policy and she thanked ESF for its efforts to determine
the core activities of the services negotiators. She recalled that the recent conclusions of the trade
agreements with Colombia and Peru and with the Central America nations are among the major
achievements in trade policy in the recent years and that all these agreements will bring “US
benchmark Plus” to European companies. Other negotiations with important trading partners are
still going on at an intense rhythm, and she called upon ESF members to remain active in advising
the negotiators on their offensive interests.
II.
REPORT ON ESF ACTIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING
1)
The ESF Policy Chairman reported on the various actions undertaken by ESF since the last
meeting in November 2009. He mentioned in particular the letter sent to President Barroso on
the ESF Priorities on Trade and Investment, for consideration of the next Commission so as to
ensure that the international dimension of the activities of European services sectors is fully
recognised as forming an integral part of the Commission’s strategy and is reflected in EU
trade policies. He also referred to the Position papers taken on EU-Canada and the letters
and meetings with members of the INTA Committee of the European Parliament on the EUKorea FTA. He informed the TPC participants that ESF has been invited to make a
presentation at the forthcoming hearing on that issue to be held on 24th June.
2)
ESF Chairman also informed the participants that ESF was working on position papers on EUSingapore, on EU-Mercosur, on the new EU Investment Policy and on the DG Trade
Consultation on the future trade policy.
III.
DG Trade Services & Investment Unit
Jean François Brakeland, Head of Unit of DG Trade Unit A1-B1 “Services and Investment”1 took
the opportunity to present his colleagues, a large number of whom were present:
1. Ignacio Iruarrizaga Diez, Deputy Head of Unit, in charge of DDA negotiations
2. Tomas Baert – India, Domestic Regulation, MRA, Investment (posted in Geneva since 1 August)
3. Ursula Hoenich – DDA
4. Fabien Gehl – Telecom, Express courier, Mercosur
5. Sena Blank – BITs, Mode 3, UNCTAD
6. Klaus Rostel – Transport, India
1
In the meanwhile, Mr. Brakeland has left DG Trade and joined the legal office of DG Environment. Mr. Iruarrizaga
Diez is again Acting Head of Unit.
 Avenue de Cortenbergh, 168  B – 1000 - Brussels  Belgium  TVA BE 863.418.279
Email: [email protected]  Tel : +32-2-230 75 14  Fax : +32-2-230 61 68  www.esf.be
2
7. Susanne Kofler – Cultural and audiovisual services, Relations with European Parliament
8. Marta BUSZ – Professional services, Business services, relations with industry (ESF),
MAAC
9. Maria Staffilidou – Telecommunication services, Singapore
10. Balaz Gargya – Mode 4
11. Pauline Weinzierl – Express Courier
12. Maria Koidu – Euromed, EPAs
13. Ian Schmitz – ASEAN, Malaysia
14. Sandra Callagan - Canada
15. G. Alexandru –
16. M. Zambarta - 2
Mr. Brakeland mentioned the sensitive issue of transparency with the Commission. He repeated
what Commissioner De Gucht said at his hearing with the INTA Committee of the Parliament on
insisting that from now on information must be provided first to Member States and to Members of
the European Parliament, and after – and only after – to the non-institutions bodies, including
NGOs and business. He also said that, despite the fact that the major stakeholders of the trade
policy are businesses, it will be difficult to make any discrimination among the NGOs (including
business organizations) since DG Trade was under close scrutiny by anti- trade NGOs and the
European Ombudsman.
During the discussion, ESF members objected that too rigid restrictions on information of
importance to business activities during the course of negotiations could have an extremely
adverse impact on EU commercial interests. The example was mentioned of the EU-Korea FTA
where business had been able to assist the Commission to correct mistakes in the negotiating
texts that would have cost European companies potential loss in the market and would have
seriously reduce the interest of the agreement for financial services companies. A smooth way
must therefore be found that would respect the interests of all parties. It was suggested that the
US method of ”cleared advisers” with specific obligations of confidentiality might be explored by the
EU institutions.
ESF Members called upon the Commission to negotiate very ambitious schedule of commitments
with India, and said that if business would not know what is in the package it would be difficult for
business organisations like ESF to support the negotiators. ESF PC Chairman recalled the
request made to Commissioner De Gucht about the necessity for ESF to better know what is in the
concluded negotiations with Columbia, Peru and Central America before being able to take our
pilgrim stick and support these agreements towards the parliament.
Talking about transparency, it was also mentioned the lack of trade statistics in trade in services,
which makes difficult for the services industries to measure the added value of any agreements.
DG Trade website does not have any statistics at all on trade in services with Columbia, Peru or
with the Central America countries, while many detailed figures are available on trade in goods.
These lacunas must be dealt with in the future trade policy.
IV.
DDA NEGOTIATIONS
Mr. Ignacio Iruarrizaga Diez, Deputy Head of Services and Investment Unit of DG Trade, quickly
reported on the DDA negotiations, pointing out that the stocktaking exercise that took place end of
2
ESF Secretariat is in the process of checking the portfolio of the whole team and will come back to members in due
time.
3
March 2010 did not allow any progress in the negotiations. There was no progress on Agriculture
or in NAMA, hence no progress on services either.
On services, there are “floating ideas” where collective initiatives would try to bring back
negotiators all together again. The USA is suggesting a cluster on ICT related services, but there
is a lack of details to see whether this initiative would have any traction. This will be discussed at
the next Services Cluster of meetings at the end of June. Another initiative is to look at the
possibility of another cluster of services related to transport, logistics & distribution. This is a way
to keep negotiators engaged, but one should not expect much progress. The EU will not organize
bilateral meetings with third countries at the June’s Services Cluster.
V.
FTA-NEGOTIATIONS
The Commission reported on the state of play in some bilateral and regional negotiations.
1) EU-KOREA
The presidency and the Commission encouraged ESF to pursue efforts towards the ratification of
the agreement by the Parliament. They were informed that ESF would be making a presentation
at the forthcoming INTA Hearing on EU-Korea FTA on 23 June 2010.
2) EU-ANDEAN - EU-CENTRAL AMERICA – EU-MERCOSUR
The Spanish Presidency reported in the recent progress on the trade negotiations with Latin
American countries following the EU-Latin America and Caribbean countries Summits that took
place in Madrid Mid-May 2010.
The negotiations have been concluded with Columbia and Peru, where the services package is
really good, goes beyond the US-Columbia agreement (to be ratified by the US Congress), in
particular in three areas; maritime transport, mode 4 and Non services establishment.
Furthermore, the result reflects the current practice of Columbia services regulations, i.e. the two
countries accepted to bind all their autonomous liberalization up to today. Negotiations with
Ecuador were finally not concluded and it is unclear when they would resume.
The negotiations with Central America (involving 6 countries: Costa-Rica, El Salvador; Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) have taken place at an intensive rhythm before the Madrid
Summit thanks to the pressure exerted by the Spanish Presidency. The offers on services are
reflecting a similar treatment than granted to the USA in 2004 (US/CAFTA-DR). ESF Policy
Chairman thanked for the tremendous efforts in achieving these negotiations; however, he
repeated the necessity for the industry to be able to see the concrete results before being able to
take position.
ESF Secretariat welcomed the decision by the EU to re-launch the trade negotiations with the
countries of MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) that was announced at the
Madrid Summit. This region is a major trading partner of the European Union and the trade in
services and investments in services are growing at a fast rate, notably with Brazil. He informed
the Member States on a forthcoming letter by the Chairman of the European Services Forum to
express support for achieving an ambitious agreement and to draw the attention of the negotiators
on the importance of the services chapter in these negotiations, which should not be dominated by
the discussions on agriculture. ESF will also produce in the coming months an updated position on
its offensive interests in the region.
3) EU-CANADA
The negotiations of the EU-Canada FTA are taking place at a fast pace. The third round of
negotiations took place in April and a fourth one is scheduled for July in Brussels. Both parties
confirmed in their negotiating actions their very high level of ambition. ESF recalled the
Commission and the Member States on the ESF Position on these negotiations that was released
in March and reiterated its favour for the negative list approach in the services negotiations. The
4
Commission replied that the EU position on this particular issued was slowly evolving and that
Canada might be a good candidate to the first exception to the positive list approach principle.
4) EU-Singapore FTA
ESF Secretariat welcomed the decision to launch FTA bilateral negotiations with Singapore, given
that this country is the EU 8th trading partner in international trade in services and the main
destination of EU FDI in South East Asia, well beyond China, Hong Kong or Japan. Participants
were informed of the ESF detailed position that would be adopted in the coming days. The
Commission invited ESF members to provide the negotiators with specific data and information so
as to best fine-tune the requests. Singapore was a country used to these kinds of negotiations and
negotiators are quite sophisticated and tough. In order to obtain a similar treatment than obtained
by the US and Australia, the EU will have to make some concessions. The Chairman invited the
EU to also use the negative list approach for these negotiations, since Singapore has already
signed precedent agreements under that format.
5) EU-INDIA
ESF Members were informed that the negotiations with India are finally making significant
progress. The visit of Commissioner De Gucht in New Delhi in March has been an opportunity for
the two parties to give a new impetus in the talks. Agreement to intensify the negotiations with a
view to concluding swiftly if possible was made at ministerial level, with a commitment to make an
assessment of the negotiations at the next EU-India Summit to be held in Brussels in November.
A large number of “inter-session” meetings already took place and will continue up to the summit.
The approach here is to avoid large and heavy round of negotiations, involving all trade issues, but
rather to adopt a light and tailor made rhythm of negotiations depending on the sector specific
needs. During the discussion, ESF members reiterated the offensive interests of the European
companies on mode 4 with India, both for outward movement of services providers to India, as well
as the need for our companies to benefit from the expertise of Indian services providers within the
EU where we often face skills shortages.
VI.
EU NEW INVESTMENT POLICY AND EU “FUTURE TRADE POLICY”
Mr. Brakeland summarised the content of the Commission’s documents on the new EU Investment
policy to be adopted by the College of Commissioner on 30 June 2010 (for further details, see
letter PC 28 of 28 May). He invited ESF to take position on these documents so as to provide the
EU institutions with arguments on the necessity for the companies to get international protection of
their investments. He confirmed that the Commission will propose the inclusion of the portfolio
investments in its new policy and again invited businesses to come up with concrete examples and
arguments, if that was relevant for them.
The Spanish Presidency informed the participants that Member States were working closely with
the Commission on this issue so as to ensure that the forthcoming communication and draft
regulation would confirm the legal certainty of the existing BITs signed by the EU Member States
and would create a proper level playing field for the EU investors going abroad and for third
countries investors coming into the EU. The Chairman informed the Members States of the
incoming ESF Position on this issue that will be sent out before the Commission’s decision and will
be circulated to all of them through the Spanish presidency.
Mr. Brakeland confirmed that DG Trade will post soon on the internet a public consultation on the
“EU Future Trade Policy” and invited ESF and ESF Members to provide their views through the
suggested channel.
VII.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS and NEXT MEETING
The Chairman thanked the Spanish Presidency for its active role in the past sic months and
expressed the wish to pursue these informal discussions with the forthcoming Hungarian
Presidency and invited all participants to the cocktail.
-----------
EUROPEAN SERVICES FORUM
INFORMAL MEETING
BETWEEN ESF AND MEMBERS OF THE TRADE POLICY COMMITTEE ON SERVICES
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
- Brussels, 8th June 2010 List of Participants
PC Chairman:
Richard O’Toole
Secretariat:
Pascal Kerneis
INSURANCE___________________________________________________________________
Lindsey Donnithorne
Lloyds of London
Gabriella Almberg
BIPAR
Hannah Grant
CEA – Insurers for Europe
FINANCIAL SERVICES__________________________________________________________
Edward Bowles
Standard Chartered Bank
Uta Wassmuth
EBF-FBE
Emma Carswell-Engle
TheCityUK
John Cooke
TheCityUK
TELECOMMUNICATIONS_______________________________________________________
Jean-Louis Burillon
France Telecom Orange
David Frautschy Heredia
Telefónica
Alessandro Gropelli
Vodafone
POSTAL & EXPRESS DELIVERY SERVICES________________________________________
Mark van der Horst
EEA
DISTRIBUTION / RETAIL________________________________________________________
 Avenue de Cortenbergh, 168  B – 1000 - Brussels  Belgium  TVA BE 863.418.279
Email: [email protected]  Tel : +32-2-230 75 14  Fax : +32-2-230 61 68  www.esf.be
6
Andreas Berger
Eurocommerce
Ralph Kamphoener
EuroCommerce
Flavia Bernardini
FTA
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES – ARCHITECTS_________________________________________
Adrian Joyce
ACE-CAE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES - NOTARIES __________________________________________
Clarisse Martin
CNUE
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES____________________________________________________
Ulrich Paetzold
FIEC
COMPUTER AND RELATED SERVICES __________________________________________
Angélique Broux
IBM
TOURISM AND RELATED SERVICES_______________________________________________
Wolf Dieter Zumpfort
TUI
GENERAL______________________________________________________________________
Carsten Dannöhl
BUSINESSEUROPE
Joakim Larsen
Confederation of Danish Industry – DI
Eeva Korolainen
Confederation of Finnish Industry – EK
Aoife Doyle
IBEC
List of Member States and Commission Participants
AUSTRIA______________________________________________________________________
Wolfgang IGLER
BELGIUM_____________________________________________________________________
Pascal BUFFIN (incoming Chair)
Florence BURTON
Sophie LIBIOUL
CZECH REPUBLIC______________________________________________________________
Lucie VONDRACKOVA
ESTONIA______________________________________________________________________
Christman ROOS
FINLAND_____________________________________________________________________
Kristiina KAUPPINEN
Saara KALIN
FRANCE______________________________________________________________________
Florence BOUYALA-IMBERT
GERMANY_____________________________________________________________________
Milena WEIDENFELLER
HUNGARY_____________________________________________________________________
Levente GAZDAG
Bernadett MARTON
ITALY__________________________________________________________________________
Tiziana ZUGLIANO
LUXEMBOURG__________________________________________________________________
Marc SALENTINY
 Avenue de Cortenbergh, 168  B – 1000 - Brussels  Belgium  TVA BE 863.418.279
Email: [email protected]  Tel : +32-2-230 75 14  Fax : +32-2-230 61 68  www.esf.be
8
NETHERELANDS (THE)_______________________________________________________
W. JOOSTEN
PORTUGAL____________________________________________________________________
Ana Luisa COELHO
ROMANIA_____________________________________________________________________
Raluca CONSTANTINESCU
SLOVAKIA_____________________________________________________________________
Peter KNAPIK
SLOVENIA_____________________________________________________________________
Katarina PETAC
SPAIN_________________________________________________________________________
Maria ORTIZ AGUILAR (Chair)
Luis Oscar MORENO
Maria Jesus VIDAL
UNITED KINGDOM_____________________________________________________________
Nicola KIRKUP
EUROPEAN COMMISSION_______________________________________________________
Mr. Jean-François BRAKELAND –Head of “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Mr. Ignacio IRUARRIZAGA-DIEZ – Deputy Head of “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Marta BUSZ - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Klaus ROSTELL - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Tomas BAERT - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Fabien GEHL - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Ursula HOENICH - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Pauline WEINZLIER - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade
Maria KOIDU - “Services & Investment” Unit- DG Trade