Activities of Paolo DE CASTRO related to 2022/2188(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the implementation report on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
Amendments (15)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the decision of the UK Government to pursue a hard Brexit upon its withdrawal from the EU was inevitably going to entail the disruptive disintegration of economic and trade ties and the divergence of regulatory regimes for farmers, agri-food producers, citizens and third-country trading partners;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas it is necessary to preserve a level playing field and legal certainty for famers, agri-food producers and workers, citizens;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that UK requirements for unnecessary guarantees in relation to certain animal diseases are not in line with the standanrds of the World Organizations for Animal Health; regrets the fact that the UK is not respecting the obbligation to align its certification requirements with international standards;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Underlines that, although interim arrangements offered by the EU allowed to improve the situation, strucural solutions are needed for the acceptance of EU paperless certificates by the United Kingdom;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Acknowledges the introduction by the United Kingdom of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill in May 2022, establishing new rules for release and marketing of "precision bred organisms" in England;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls on the EU to speed up the adoption of legislation on the use of new breeding techniques, in order to ensure a level playing field for EU farmers, while sustainably increasing yields and making crops more resilient to climate change and new pathogens, particularly in view of harmful organisms, floods, droughts, water shortages and other extreme weather conditions that are afflicting an increasing number of Member States;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls on the Commission to assess the level of protection of EU geographical indications protected in the United Kingdom by virtue of the Withdrawal Agreement and to launch discussions with the UK on new provisions pertaining to the protection of EU geographical indications registered from January 2021;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Calls on the Commission to keep Parliament fully informed in a timely manner of all difficulties that may arise, in particular possible breaches of the Agreements that might jeopardise the level playing field and fair competition for the EU’s farmers, agri-food producers and workers;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. MCalls on the Commission to assess the level of protection of EU geographical indications in the UK and maintains its call for both parties to activate the ‘rendez- vous’ clause on the future protection of geographical indications registered after 2021;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Reiterates that the TCA is the delicate outcome of long and difficult negotiations and it should therefore be fully implemented in good faith, equally to the Withdrawal Agreement, in particular the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the recent Windsor Framework, for the mutual benefit of both parties; calls on both parties to fully exploit its huge potential to facilitate EU-UK trade to the greatest extent possible, while bearing in mind that the advantages of membership in terms of access to the EU single market and to the Customs Union, as well as of participation in other common and flanking policies, cannot, under any circumstances, be replicated through an FTA;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Takes note of the further postponement of the implementation of certain UK import procedures and checks on products coming from the EU; calls on the UK Government to clarify the schedule and requirements in order to avoid further uncertainty for businesses and to digitalize and simplify UK customs procedures to the extent possible, in order to avoid further frictions in trade between the EU and the UK; highlights that customs cooperation between the EU and the UK is important in order to support compatibility in customs legislation and procedures, and to promote trade facilitation;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Recalls that as a consequence of a separate sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulatory regime following its withdrawal from the EU, the UK is subject to all EU rules applicable to third countries not dynamically aligning with EU legislation; takes note of the fact that post-Brexit, the EU and UK remain important trading partners for agri-food products and that from January to October 2022, EU exports to the UK reached EUR 39.5 billion, a 15 % increase compared to 2021, while the UK was the third most important partner for the EU in terms of agri-food imports8 ; calls on the UK Government to consider an SPS agreement, as an alignment of this type woulexpedite the transition to a digital system for sanitary and phytosanitary certificates, and to consider an SPS agreement, as an alignment of this type would reduce the administrative and financial burden on both sides, and facilitate EU-UK agri-food trade, including trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland; _________________ 8 ‘Monitoring EU agri-food trade’, European Commission, Directorate- General for Agriculture and Rural Development, Brussels, 2022, https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files /2023-01/monitoring-agri-food-trade- oct2022_en_1.pdf.
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Commends the ongoing work of the Trade Partnership Committee and of the specialised and trade-specialised committees, and urges the parties to fully explore their potential as bilateral bodies established under the TCA, which can discuss subjects of shared strategic importance and address all implementation issues in a direct manner; invites the Commission to continue the good practice of keeping the European Parliament fully and immediately informed of the ongoing work of and developments in these committees;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Calls on the Commission to keep the European Parliament fully and immediately informed about all complications that may jeopardise the level playing field and fair competition for EU businesses and workers;