RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the agreement between the Union and the Kingdom of Thailand 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

31.5.2021 - (05444/2021 – C9‑0171/2021 – 2021/0003(NLE)) - ***

Committee on International Trade
Rapporteur: Heidi Hautala

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Thailand 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

(05444/2021 – C9‑0171/2021 – 2021/0003(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the draft Council decision (05444/2021),

– having regard to the draft agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Thailand 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 (05445/2021),

– having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 207(4), first subparagraph, and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a) (v), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C9-0171/2021),

– 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 (A9-0180/2021),

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 Kingdom of Thailand.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

In October 2018 the EU formally launched the negotiations process (under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994) with a number of WTO Members in Geneva. The underlying principle of the negotiations is a “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, 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.

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

 

The agreed methodology of the apportionment is described in detail in the Council and EP Regulation (EU) 2019/216. More specifically, Article 2b) 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.

 

The Council (Trade Policy Committee) has been regularly consulted on the content and advancement of the negotiations. Negotiations with the Kingdom of Thailand resulted in an Agreement that was initialled on 7 January 2021 in Geneva ("the Agreement").

 

Consequently, the European Commission proposes to the Council to authorize 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.

 

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Agreement between the Union and the Kingdom of Thailand 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	05444/2021 – C9-0171/2021 – 2021/0003(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	ITRE 17.5.2021	AGRI 17.5.2021	PECH 17.5.2021
Not delivering opinions  Date of decision	ITRE 28.1.2021	AGRI 23.3.2021	PECH 22.3.2021
Rapporteurs  Date appointed	Heidi Hautala 28.1.2021
Date adopted	25.5.2021
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	37 1 3
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, Jan Zahradil, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez
Substitutes present for the final vote	Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Morten Løkkegaard
Date tabled	31.5.2021

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

37	+
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
The Left	Emmanuel Maurel
Verts/ALE	Markéta Gregorová, Heidi Hautala, Sara Matthieu

 

1	-
ID	Danilo Oscar Lancini

 

3	0
ID	Herve Juvin, Jean-Lin Lacapelle
The Left	Helmut Scholz

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention