Activities of Joachim SCHUSTER related to 2021/2178(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Future of EU-Africa trade relations (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the future of EU-Africa trade relations
Amendments (29)
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the EU is one of the most important trading partners for Africa; whereas in 2020 over 61 % of goods imported to the EU from Africa were primary goods and almost 70 % of goods exported from the EU to Africa were manufactured goods; whereas this trade structure reflects the structural imbalance and interdependence of the economies involved;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the African continent is in particular affected in its food security by the war in Ukraine;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas strengthening the intra- continental trade in Africa is essential for its economic development; whereas the entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will gives new momentum to pan-African trade and investment opportunities;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas the entry into force of the AfCFTA is currently more aspirational than reality, and extensive measures such as the development of cross-border transport infrastructure, the development of cross-border value chains and the establishment of common product standards are required to implement it;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas African countries have so far contributed and are contributing very little to climate change while the EU's production and lifestyle habits, based on ever-increasing resource consumption, are major contributors to the causes of climate change; whereas climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to Africa, the EU and the entire world, and require joint responsiveness and substantive investments in sustainable and inclusive economic development and provision of access to public goods; whereas the effects of climate change will be catastrophic, particularly for many African states, and will significantly increase social inequality, and be a cause of increasing social, political, and possibly military conflicts, as well as climate-related migration;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the EU and the AU have announced an Africa-Europe Investment Package of at least EUR 150 billion - over a period of six years, i.e. only around EUR 25 billion - that will support common ambitions for the 2030 Agenda and the AU Agenda 2063, composed of an investment, a health and an education part;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. whereas the EU's refusal to comply with the repeated request since 2021 to remove patent protection for the COVID vaccines has politically strained relations with African countries;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the 6th EU-AU-Summit committed to engage constructively towards an agreement on a comprehensive WTO response to the pandemic, which includes trade-related as well as intellectual-property-related aspects; whereas it is essential to extend the TRIPS agreement on other aspects of intellectual property rights, such as diagnostics, devices and treatments;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
P a. whereas a geopolitical rivalry exists between China, the U.S., Russia, the EU, among others;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. States that the Economic Partnership Agreements concluded or negotiated in the last decade do not sufficiently meet the requirements of a new partnership, but are primarily aimed at enforcing European interests, and sees this as one reason for the frequent criticism or even rejection of the EPAs in many African states;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Considers the EPAs that have entered into force should be further developed in terms of an equal partnership or supplemented by additional agreements, whereas in regions where the EPAs encounter little or no political acceptance, they must be supplemented or replaced by other agreements; calls on the Commission to hold negotiations with African countries that include the strengthening of African agriculture with a focus on smallholder agriculture, ensuring food security, supporting climate adaptation measures, the concretization of a joint investment offensive as well as the inclusion of services, among others;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Notes that the EPAs have so far failed to achieve their self-imposed goals, and that European exports to the EPA states have been detrimental to local production, especially in the agricultural sector; regrets that important EPA goals such as diversifying value chains and promoting regional integration in Africa have not been achieved, and the main exports are still agricultural products and raw materials;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Calls for EPAs to be reviewed to determine the extent to which they are compatible with efforts to establish an AfCFTA; calls for an adjustment of EPA provisions to be pursued depending on the results;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the future of the international trading system depends on the revitalisingmodernization of the WTO and finalising the Doha Round, on which African countries have placed their hopes; calls therefore for the interests of development in the countries of the Global South to be better taken into account, and the protection mechanisms for developing economies to be expanded;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Is convinced that European interests such as access to raw materials, shaping economic relations to promote the European economy, and managing migration, i.e. by tackling its root causes, can best be pursued through a new partnership of equals; Is convinced that with a new partnership of equals, the EU can effectively strengthen its strategic autonomy;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that the renewed EU- Africa relationship, based on an equal partnership and on fully joint cooperation, should have at its heart the best shared interests of both continents and should not become subject to geopolitical rivalry;; Concludes that only a partnership of equals between the AU and EU is an appropriate response to the existing geopolitical rivalry; Is convinced that the striving for European areas of influence stands in the way of mutually beneficial cooperation if the EU's geopolitical competition is driven only by demarcation from other world powers.
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Calls on the Commission to enhance technical assistance and capacity development activities to promote trade through measures such as: - Expansion of trade related data infrastructure to build an efficient customs administration and facilitate customs clearance - Elimination of technical barriers to trade - Harmonization of norms and standards in EPA states - Harmonization of rules of origin;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Calls for a large-scale European- African investment offensive that provides incentives for a significant increase in private investment in African states and enables comprehensive public investment in infrastructure and in combating climate change; welcomes in this context the commitment made at the 6th AU-EU Summit to mobilize EUR 150 billion within the framework of Global Gateway; Calls for this investment initiative to be significantly expanded together with the Member States;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Calls for the investment offensive to focus primarily on projects to develop and expand renewable energies, secure water supplies, climate adjustment measures and build public infrastructure; expects all investment projects to involve African partner companies and to pay close attention to creating local employment and deepening African value chains; calls on the Commission to identify appropriate investment projects in coordination with local, regional and state partners in Africa and ensure their implementation;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 d (new)
Paragraph 10 d (new)
10 d. Notes that the promotion of African agriculture is of outstanding importance for ensuring food security; Therefore calls for a special investment program to promote agriculture with a focus on supporting smallholder agriculture; Is convinced that the promotion of smallholder agriculture is also an important contribution to climate protection and climate adaptation as well as to the preservation of biodiversity;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Calls for a further development of the debt moratorium granted to African states in response to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and calls to include a comprehensive debt relief initiative that must also mandatorily involve private creditors;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Urges the Commission to prepare an effective and easily accessible microcredit scheme, whereas women's access to these loans in particular needs to be significantly improved;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls for the EU to reinforce its support to the African countries and the AU on combating illicit financial flows and tax evasion by multinational companies; calls for initiatives to ensure that multinational corporations do not contribute to capital outflows from African countries through intra-group transfer pricing as they do not reflect cost structures and value-added shares, thereby reducing tax revenues in African countries;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Welcomes the Commission's decision to assess the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on cereal imports and food security, and calls on the Commission to take early action against possible humanitarian crises; notes in this context that sustainable agriculture and more sustainable nutrition in Europe can make a significant contribution to ensuring food security in African countries;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the AfCFTA's goal of improving regional differentiation and the expansion and interconnection of infrastructure systems; Welcomes the agreement of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers on common rules of origin for the bloc for 87.7 % of goods or 3 800 tariff lines covered by AfCFTA; calls on the European Commission to harmonise the rules of origin in all the different EU agreements with regions and countries in Africa with the common AfCFTA rules;
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. Calls for the establishment of a high-level dialogue at the EU level; Calls for this dialogue to be complemented by a continuous high-level political dialogue at the level of regional groupings and with individual African states in order to concretize the new partnership on an equal basis for all levels, as well as to identify and implement key projects;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25 b. Calls on the EU, together with the AU and African states, to ensure full involvement of civil society in Africa and Europe, both in the context of general dialogue and in specific projects;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 c (new)
Paragraph 25 c (new)
25 c. Expects that within the framework of the new partnership of equals, the guarantee of good governance, respect for human rights, and the safeguarding of fundamental labour and social rights will have a place of high significance;