EU-Vietnam Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (consent) - EU-Vietnam Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (resolution) - EU-Vietnam Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (protocol to take account of the accession of Croatia) (debate)
Jan Zahradil (ECR).– Mr President, as Chairman of your Parliamentary Group ‘Friends of Vietnam’, and also as standing rapporteur for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, I am very glad that Vietnam is once again is at the forefront of EU attention. While we are dealing with that partnership and cooperation agreement, I hope that it will be approved as soon as possible.
We also have to stress that we have already negotiated a free trade agreement, and those negotiations were finalised in August. The Treaty itself was signed two weeks ago by the Commission President and the Vietnamese Prime Minister. So it is good news. I think that it is also good news in the year where we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of EU-Vietnam relations. I have to say, however, that this report of Ms Lochbihler contains some elements with which I am not entirely happy. In particular, paragraph 33 seems to me a bit unfair and unjust towards the Vietnamese side, as it calls on Vietnam to ensure that fees set by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finances for the issue of documents are the same. It raises some doubts about the procedure. I do not think that this paragraph should be included in that report. I have serious concerns about that, and if that paragraph is there still tomorrow my position will probably be that I cannot support this report at all. However, I hope that we can find a solution for that.