8 Amendments of Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES related to 2023/2065(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the first ex post evaluation of the EU-Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA); stresses that the EPA envisages trade and investment contributing to the goal of sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions; notes, however, that many challenges remain in SADC partner countries in relation to economic diversification, competitiveness, growth, rule of law, poverty reduction, labour rights, land grabbing and environmental protection;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that regional integration features prominently in the EPA; stresses that regional integration is essential to effectivepromote regional value chains in SADC and Africa broadly, and sustainably integrate developing countries into the world economy; stresses, furthermore, that the EU’s development finance cooperation with SADC countries must assist their regional economic cooperation and integration efforts in a way that boosts wider intra-African trade;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. PRecognizes that SADC partner countries can only benefit from the EPA insofar as it increases their ability to boost economic diversification and produce value-added manufactured products; points out that the EPA should therefore contribute to diversifying value chains in SADC countries and their economies, creating added value and jobs locally and thereby helping to reduce and eventually eradicate hunger and poverty in a sustainable manner; stresses, in this regard, that the largest export increases of most SADC countries to the EU have taken place in commodities and foodstuffs, thereby highlighting the need for further support in diversification and the implementation of strong industrial policies to promote structural transformation;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Underlines the financial and technical difficulties that local SMEs experience in fulfilling EU regulations and standards that are required before exporting to the EU market, which may exclude most SMEs from EPA benefits; stresses the need to provide adequate assistance to SMEs to ensure their compliance with EU requirements and access to EU markets, and to raise awareness about the utilization of tariff rate quotas;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the importance of good governance and assistance in building capacity for sustainable development, in particular with regard to establishing sustainable fiscal systems and fighting tax evasion, in order to help unlock fiscal capacity for further economic and social development and to protect the environment; recalls that the EU needs to strongly support the strengthening of institutions and comprehensive capacity- building in the public sector of partner countries;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that the EPA should contribute to establishing an effective, predictable and transparent regional regulatory framework for trade and investment, provide a sustainable foundation for in a way that positively contributes to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area and thereby attraction of private capital, which is indispensable for fostering sustainable development and achieving themost goals of the 2030 Agenda;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Recalls the importance of allowing exceptions to the National Treatment principle and the obligation to eliminate export taxes in order to promote and protect infant industries that are key to diversifying the economies of partner countries, thereby boosting their development, in line with Article XVII: C) and Article XXIV of the GATT.
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights the importance of broadly, systematically and meaningfully involving local and regional civil society in the EPA’s implementation and the ex post evaluations thereof.; notes that the scope of provisions of the EPA on dialogue with civil society are limited when compared with other recent EU trade agreements; stresses the need to enhance the consultation role of civil society; calls to establish a formal mechanism for civil society engagement, while recalling that existing platforms like the multi- stakeholder national monitoring frameworks of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 can also be leveraged for engagement with civil society in the EPA context;