Conclusion of the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (A9-0003/2020 - Geert Bourgeois)
Deirdre Clune (PPE). – Madam President, I supported the resolution today and am supporting a trade deal with Vietnam because I believe that trade agreements offer opportunity to engage on all areas, such as the environment, human rights and social standards. Trade agreements benefit consumers, they benefit companies and they create jobs on both sides. I recognise that Vietnam is not ideal in terms of human rights. Nonetheless, I think the engagement that the European bloc will have in terms of trade – companies engaging at that level and, indeed, individuals – will certainly benefit. I think it’s important that we have monitoring in place to ensure the effective implementation of all the commitments that have been made in these negotiations with regard to environmental standards, social standards and human rights. So I support a rules-based trade agreement with Vietnam because I think that’s far better than having no rules and no trade. We must recognise that we already do trade with Vietnam as a bloc.