Statement by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) press conference

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Merci, chère Hadja, et merci à la Présidence Belge pour cette réunion.

Let me begin with the discussion we had on trade and competitiveness and the future of EU trade policy.

The main objective today was to further the debate with Member States on the future of the EU’s trade policy and the contribution of trade to the EU’s competitiveness.

In my intervention, I focused on the underlying trends that will shape the EU’s trade policy in the years to come, including the challenging geopolitical and economic environment for trade when we need to also steer through the green and digital transitions.

I also emphasised the vital role that trade will continue to play in strengthening the EU’s competitiveness and economic security. This was also recently highlighted in Enrico Letta’s report on the EU single market.

In terms of practical implications for the EU’s trade policy in the future, it means:

• active and flexible engagement with our partners
• stronger implementation and enforcement
• defending the single market from unfair trade practices by actively using the toolbox of autonomous instruments.

Let me now turn to EU-Africa trade and investment relations:

Much has happened since we last discussed EU-Africa trade and investment relations during the French Presidency in 2022.

In the current geopolitical and geoeconomic context, stability and prosperity in Africa are obviously in the EU’s political and economic interest. And there is plenty of untapped potential in our relationship.

There is an even clearer need to further strengthen our trade and investment relations in a way that benefits both continents.

In this context, I warmly welcome the Council’s decision today on the conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya. Thanks to this, the EU-Kenya Agreement will now enter into force on the 1st of July.

Africa is a privileged partner owing to its proximity, its development potential and possible contribution our efforts to diversify our supply chains and make them more resilient.

African countries are also significant suppliers of many commodities to the EU. In particular, it is rich in the critical raw materials necessary for the green and digital transitions. 

While it is important to distinguish between our approach towards Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa, there are elements that are common to both regions.

They show the direction of our trade policy towards the entire continent.

First, we are focusing on the effective implementation of our existing arrangements with African countries.

But going forward, we also need to work on developing alternative forms of engagement.

This includes Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreements, Critical Raw Materials partnerships, energy and clean tech partnerships, the sustainable cocoa initiative, and other forms of engagement which will all be important to address our multiple policy objectives.

Then we had a discussion on the WTO and the way forward after February’s Ministerial, MC13.

The EU should continue to support reform of the WTO that is equipped to respond to today’s pressing global trade challenges.

It must be said that this is not a vanity project.

The WTO remains our best bet against global economic fragmentation, and in such turbulent times, we should encourage our partners to engage fully on upholding this organisation.

It is also worth recalling that the majority of EU trade still takes place under WTO rules, so it remains the foundation of our global trade policy.

Let me now shortly address export controls, where I welcome the Council conclusions on our White Paper.

In the current geopolitical environment, many countries are resorting to export controls as a geopolitical instrument.

This is an area where we need more European coordination to defend our interests and values and this, of course, in full respect of the distribution of competences at national and EU levels.

I particularly welcome the commitment of Member States to work further on introducing, in EU law, export controls that are agreed at multilateral level but where formal adoption is blocked by Russia.

It is much better to have one set of uniform EU controls, especially in our internal market where goods controlled in one Member State can freely be transferred to others where they may not be adequately controlled and subsequently exported. This helps to avoid risky loopholes.

Finally, a few words on Russian goods.

As the minster already said, today the Council adopted the Commission’s proposal to increase tariffs on imports into the EU of cereals, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and Belarus.

This measure will ensure that, as of 1 July, Russia cannot destabilise the EU market through redirected grain exports. It will tackle illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukrainian grain products into the EU market, and will prevent Russia from using the revenues from the export of these goods to the EU to fund its aggression against Ukraine.

We also had an exchange on what more can be done to step up economic pressure on Russia and deprive it of its resources and revenues. Sweden has initiated a discussion on a broader use of tariffs on imports from Russia. From the European Commission’s side, we will be assessing this and providing Member States with options to move forward.

Thank you.