RECOMMENDATION on the proposal for a Council decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the Argentine Republic relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union

27.5.2021 - (COM(2021)0107 – C9‑0170/2021 – 2021/0054(NLE)) - ***

Committee on International Trade
Rapporteur: Jordi Cañas 

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a Council decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the Argentine Republic relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union

(COM(2021)0107 – C9‑0170/2021 – 2021/0054(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2021)0107),

– having regard to the draft agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (06838/2021),

– having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 207(4) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C9‑0170/2021),

– having regard to Rule 105(1) and (4), and Rule 114(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on International Trade (A9-0175/2021),

1. Gives its consent to the conclusion of the agreement;

2. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Argentine Republic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

In view of the United Kingdom's (UK) withdrawal from the European Union, in October 2018, the European Union (EU) formally launched the negotiations process (under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994) with a number of Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the Argentine Republic. The underlying principle of the negotiations is a “joint approach” developed between the EU and the UK back in 2017 on how to “apportion” the quantitative commitments contained in the EU28 WTO schedule for the 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial WTO tariff rate quotas (TRQs). The basis of this approach is that the existing volume of each TRQ would be fully maintained in the future after the UK's withdrawal from the EU, but split across two separate customs territories: the EU27 and the UK.

The principle of the applied methodology is based on the trade flows into the EU27 and the UK during a representative reference period (of 3 years from 2013 to 2015) for all WTO TRQs.

The agreed methodology of the apportionment is described in detail in Regulation (EU) 2019/216 of the European Parliament and of the Council. More specifically, Article 2(b) of this Regulation empowers the Commission to amend the apportionment shares taking into account pertinent information that it may receive either in the context of negotiations under Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 or from other sources with an interest in a specific tariff rate quota.

On 15 June 2018, the Council authorised the Commission to launch negotiations under Article XXVIII GATT with the relevant WTO Members, including the Argentine Republic, with a view to apportioning the Union's WTO concessions on TRQs.

The Argentine Republic has negotiating rights for 26 TRQs and consultation rights for 4 TRQs.

Negotiations with the Argentine Republic resulted in an Agreement that was initialled on 5 February 2021 in Geneva ("the Agreement"). The relevant Regulation (EU) 2019/216 of the European Parliament and Council and Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/761 and (EU) 2020/1988 will be amended to reflect the amended TRQs. Consequently, the European Commission proposes to the Council to authorise the conclusion of the Agreement.

 

In accordance with Article 218(6) TFEU, the consent of the European Parliament is needed in order for the Council to adopt a decision concluding the Agreement.

In the light of the above, the Rapporteur recommends that the Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the Agreement, without prejudice to its democratic right of continuous scrutiny.

 

 

ANNEX 1 – LETTER FROM AGRI COMMITTEE CHAIR

 

 

 

 

 

 

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

The Chair

 

Mr Bernd Lange

Chair of the Committee on International Trade

ASP 12G301

 

 

Ref.: IPOL-COM-AGRI D(2021)5818

 

 

Dear Chair,

 

I refer to the proposals for Council decisions on the conclusion of agreements between the EU and, respectively, Pakistan (COM(2021)81), Indonesia (COM(2021)84) and Argentina (COM(2021)107) on the apportionment of tariff-rate quotas following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

 

AGRI Coordinators considered the matter at their meeting of 23 March. They noted that the proposed agreements would not change significantly the apportionment and quantitative commitments laid down by Regulation (EU) 2019/216 as regards agricultural and agri-food products.

 

Consequently, Coordinators consented to the conclusion by the EU of the above agreements with, respectively, Pakistan, Indonesia and Argentina and asked me to convey their opinion to you pursuant to Rule 56.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Norbert Lins

Copy: Mr Martin Hlaváček, AGRI Standing Rapporteur for Brexit related issues

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the Argentine Republic relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union
References	06837/2021 – C9-0170/2021 – 2021/0054(NLE)
Date of consultation / request for consent	10.5.2021
Committee responsible  Date announced in plenary	INTA 17.5.2021
Committees asked for opinions  Date announced in plenary	AGRI 17.5.2021
Not delivering opinions  Date of decision	AGRI 14.4.2021
Rapporteurs  Date appointed	Jordi Cañas 11.2.2021
Discussed in committee	15.4.2021
Date adopted	25.5.2021
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	36 1 4
Members present for the final vote	Barry Andrews, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Tiziana Beghin, Geert Bourgeois, Jordi Cañas, Daniel Caspary, Miroslav Číž, Arnaud Danjean, Paolo De Castro, Emmanouil Fragkos, Raphaël Glucksmann, Markéta Gregorová, Roman Haider, Christophe Hansen, Heidi Hautala, Danuta Maria Hübner, Herve Juvin, Karin Karlsbro, Maximilian Krah, Danilo Oscar Lancini, Bernd Lange, Margarida Marques, Gabriel Mato, Sara Matthieu, Emmanuel Maurel, Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó, Samira Rafaela, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Massimiliano Salini, Helmut Scholz, Sven Simon, Dominik Tarczyński, Mihai Tudose, Kathleen Van Brempt, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Jörgen Warborn, Iuliu Winkler, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez
Substitutes present for the final vote	Sergio Berlato, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Morten Løkkegaard
Date tabled	27.5.2021

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

36	+
ECR	Sergio Berlato, Geert Bourgeois, Emmanouil Fragkos, Dominik Tarczyński
ID	Roman Haider, Maximilian Krah
NI	Tiziana Beghin, Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó
PPE	Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Daniel Caspary, Arnaud Danjean, Christophe Hansen, Danuta Maria Hübner, Gabriel Mato, Massimiliano Salini, Sven Simon, Jörgen Warborn, Iuliu Winkler, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez
Renew	Barry Andrews, Jordi Cañas, Karin Karlsbro, Morten Løkkegaard, Samira Rafaela, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne
S&D	Miroslav Číž, Paolo De Castro, Raphaël Glucksmann, Bernd Lange, Margarida Marques, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Mihai Tudose, Kathleen Van Brempt
Verts/ALE	Markéta Gregorová, Heidi Hautala, Sara Matthieu

 

1	-
ID	Danilo Oscar Lancini

 

4	0
ID	Herve Juvin, Jean-Lin Lacapelle
The Left	Emmanuel Maurel, Helmut Scholz

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention