This website is an archive of the work of Marietje Schaake in the European Parliament between 2009 and 2019. Marietje can be reached at marietje.schaake@ep.europa.eu

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Speech

Plenary speech on trade with EuroMed countries

17 Sep 2014
Marietje
On 15 September, Marietje Schaake spoke in the plenary meeting about trade with the EuroMed countries. Marietje Schaake, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, trade is an essential part of our common foreign policy and it should be a more integral part. Its political significance was underlined by the responses to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Last summer a wake-up call was given, for those who still needed one, as to the importance of a strong Europe in today’s world. We have a lot to win by expanding the scope of existing agreements in the Euromed region. A few years after courageous people – many of them young – defied repression in calling for democracy, rights and opportunities, not enough positive change has been realised. Sadly, the countries in North Africa and the Middle East face major threats of instability. Still, we must continue with an ambitious trade agenda. It should be at the heart of finally giving meaning to the notion of more for more: more market access, with more reforms towards human rights and democracy. We must be firm, including with Israel, on existing conditionalities, and we must see trade as a means towards more opportunities and rights, towards the prevention of corruption, the more equal distribution of wealth and the empowerment of individuals – the latter especially in combination with education, which should be used to tackle the massive youth unemployment. Increasing opportunities may also help to prevent radicalisation, although clearly it is not the only solution. Certainly it can help curb migration. This is not just a matter of exports and innovations. We should look at ourselves, and at the negative impact that agricultural subsidies have on the opportunities for farmers in the Euromed region, hampering growth there. The EU should also play an active coordinating role, so as to avoid duplication of activities on the ground, and it should support regional integration, which would greatly help economic growth in the Euromed region.