Dear Chair,
Dear Lars,
Dear Esteban,
Honourable Members.
It is a pleasure to be here in Copenhagen to engage once more with the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs. My thanks to the Danish Presidency.
National Parliaments, together with the European Parliament, continue to play a key role in shaping the European Unions response to the multiple geopolitical challenges we face today.
Your active engagement in sending us opinions on key topics, and your overall contribution to the political dialogue with the European Commission, provides valuable and impactful input, and are always greatly appreciated.
I also see potential for further strengthening our cooperation, for example through more active exchanges on the annual Commission Work Programme.
This is all the more important given the fast-changing and uncertain times we find ourselves in, with geopolitical tensions, economic upheaval, and continued conflict.
I see the impact of this first hand across Europe and the world, in my role as Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security.
Trade lies at the intersection of national, European and global considerations, and it is vital that it continues to be a success story for Europe.
We must look forward, negotiate new trade agreements, manage and improve existing ones, and ensure that our trade relations with partners around the world are fit for the new reality.
For example, with the U.S., where our transatlantic trade relationship is the most valuable in the world, surpassing 1.7 billion euros a year in goods and services.
But Washingtons new approach to trade policy meant there was a need to ensure predictability and reliability for EU businesses.
The deal we concluded in July, and the subsequent Joint Statement, has helped restore this certainty and stability, while preserving transatlantic trade key for EU businesses and jobs.
And it has created a platform for further discussion. Right now, we are forward looking and focused on implementation.
I remain in close contact with my U.S. counterparts, including last Monday when Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer came to Brussels and we had fruitful talks, including with the Member States and with industry.
Turning to China. The EU-China economic and trade relationship, amounting to 731 billion euros in 2024, has been a source of growth for both economies for the past decades.
We need each others markets, investments and technologies.
And we have mutual interest in continuing our engagement on bilateral issues, like trade, and global issues, like climate change and the war in Ukraine.
It is our shared responsibility.
The recent measures on export controls on rare earths imposed by China earlier this year once again highlight the importance of diversifying sources of supply for critical components and inputs.
This is a responsibility for the EU in a general sense, and for our Member States and industry in particular.
We will continue the de-risking process and our efforts on rebalancing our relations with China to ensure a level playing field, reciprocity, and symmetrical market openings, while maintaining our engagement on the key challenges.
We should remember, however, that together, the U.S. and China only account for around a third of our overall trade – we cant forget the other two thirds.
Not least, to boost the competitiveness of EU companies, by creating market opportunities and allowing them to source the inputs they need.
While giving consumers more choice and lower prices.
So we are working full speed on a diversification agenda, to build on our world-leading network of Free Trade Agreements, covering 76 countries and 46% of our trade.
They help more than 700,000 EU companies export outside the Union, supporting over 30 million European jobs.
Over the past year, we have moved at pace in this endeavour.
The recent conclusion of our trade and investment agreement with Indonesia comes on top of deals with Mexico and the Mercosur region.
We are currently negotiating FTAs with India, , the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and a group of five Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) countries.
Talks are also ongoing with the UAE, and we remain committed to work with other countries in the Gulf region as well.
At the same time, we are pursuing other forms of engagement, such as our Digital Trade Agreements with Singapore and South Korea, our Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement with Angola, and our recently concluded Clean Trade and Investment Partnership with South Africa.
And last month I travelled to Australia, with whom we are also in trade and investment discussions, in the context of CPTPP, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, to launch our first trade and investment dialogue, covering several priority areas, including digital trade.
The EU remains committed to fair, rules-based trade.
But our openness is only one side of the coin.
We must balance that openness, so that our industries can remain competitive, and to strengthen our economic security.
This means the swift and efficient use of our trade defence instruments against dumped or unfairly subsidised imports.
Currently, there are 230 trade defence measures in place, protecting more than 600,000 jobs.
You will have seen the recent measures we have taken to protect our steel and ferroalloy industries.
And it means assessing risks and designing mitigation measures in line with our Economic Security Strategy.
We are also currently putting the finishing touches on a new economic security ‘doctrine, which we will put forward in the coming days, to help ensure that economic security is a common denominator in support of all we do.
Honourable Members.
Trade will remain central to Europes prosperity, and to our economic security.
But we must accept that there is no going back to the good old days.
That we can no longer take for granted the rules-based trade system that has brought so much prosperity, to every corner of the Union.
We need to stand up for our European trade agenda.
Therefore, we are in the driving seat when it comes to reforming the WTO, with concrete ideas on the table in the areas of governance, level playing field and dispute resolution.
We need to shape the global trading system to the current reality and challenges – with some of them just mentioned.
So we count on your continued engagement and input, and I look forward to our discussions today.
Thank you.
