On Member States' export credit agencies in European Parliament.

• Report rights infringement
• published: 04 Jul 2013
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Franziska Keller, deputising for the rapporteur. - Mr President, on behalf of the rapporteur, Yannick Jadot, who unfortunately cannot be present here, I would like to convey his thoughts to you: It is to my great pleasure that this House will vote tomorrow on the report on the first annual report from the Commission on the export credit activities of Member States. This own-initiative report finishes, at least for this legislature, work which started more than three years ago, and I am deeply grateful and indebted to all shadow rapporteurs for their very constructive cooperation in this long lasting endeavour. More than three years ago, an innocent dossier came to us in the Committee on International Trade (INTA): the transposition of the latest OECD arrangements on export credit activities into EU law. It was one of those 'thumbs up' dossiers, but it came to us under the ordinary legislative procedure shortly after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. It was the time at which Parliament was testing its new powers and becoming aware of its responsibilities, not only towards European citizens but also towards filling the spirit and the letter of the new Treaty with concrete life. It was also the time at which the financial and economic crisis was unfolding in Europe, and along with this came much higher tension over public spending. As the rapporteur for Parliament, I asked myself what we as Parliamentarians knew about the activities of the ECAs of the Member States, which to a large extent operate with public funds. It is not that I was in doubt about the usefulness of ECAs for European companies; I only noticed that we knew very little. Moreover, I detected no inherent relation between the work of the ECAs of the Member States and the new requirement of the Lisbon Treaty that all external activities of the Union and its Member States shall be conducted in the spirit of the Union's external action goals as enshrined in Article 3 and Article 21 TEU. To my surprise, my thoughts were widely shared by all my colleagues in the International Trade Committee. While we might have deeply rooted controversies about trade policy matters, we found -- and still find ourselves -- united under the roof of the Lisbon Treaty and its prerogatives. Hence, I found almost full support across the entire political spectrum to ask the Commission to provide Parliament with an annual report about the ECAs of the Member States, and on its own activities, so as to get the emerging economies to adhere to the OECD arrangements for ECAs. This new reporting requirement entails, in particular, an evaluation by the Commission as to whether or not Member States in their ECA policies are applying the principle of fostering the Union's external action goals with regard, among other things, to the promotion of democracy and human rights and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Commission showed itself very helpful in conveying our message to the Council. My thanks go therefore also to the Commission, and in particular to Mr Denis Redonnet. The report that will be voted tomorrow evaluates the Commission's first annual report on the reports of the Member States on ECA activities for the year 2011. We have to acknowledge that we are at the very beginning of this exercise. Member States find it difficult to frame a report on such non financial issues as to how they ensure their spending is used to foster human rights and democracy, or on how ECAs screen environmental risks into the setting of their premiums. Therefore, in the report, we make suggestions as to how such reporting could be done in future, and how the Commission should be enabled to evaluate such reporting. The next set of reports by the Member States will for sure be better, and I want to thank again all of my colleagues who in this legislature have laid the ground for making sure that, one day, Europe will be a more consistent global actor for democracy and human rights.