91998E1286

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1286/98

by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Economic relations between Mexico and the European Union

Although the European Union is Mexico's second largest trading partner and the second largest source of direct foreign investment in the country, both parties consider that their economic relations are not fulfilling their full potential, bearing in mind that the European Union's participation in Mexico's total trade fell from 11.45 % in 1990 to 6.3 % in 1997.

Mexico gives less favourable tariff preferences to European countries than it does to other countries with which it has concluded agreements. For its part, the European Union has signed agreements with more than 100 countries granting them more favourable treatment than it does for trade with Mexico.

How will the Commission encourage the building of what could be a new relationship between the two parties, bearing in mind that Mexico has moved from a protectionist to an open market stance and that in the last ten years its exports have increased five-fold while its imports have risen by more than 600 %, making it the leading exporter and importer in Latin America?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission

(3 June 1998)

Mexico is a major partner of the Community in the Latin American region. Over the last few years, it has established preferential trade links with most of its geographical neighbours, principally under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The Commission is well aware that, since the entry into force of NAFTA in 1994, this situation has created an important competitive advantage for firms established in the NAFTA countries, to the detriment of European exports, which continue to be subject to customs levies at non-preferential rates of duty. The volume of Community exports to Mexico has accordingly fallen sharply, as against a comparable increase in the volume of US and Canadian exports to Mexico.

It is specifically with a view to remedying this situation that the new agreements with Mexico, signed on 8 December 1997, aim to establish an area of free trade in goods and services. The agreements also envisage greater freedom in respect of movements of capital, the opening up of public procurement, and a framework of greater discipline in the fields of competition and intellectual property.

Parliament has recently delivered its opinion concerning these agreements which, once they enter into force, will serve as a basis for future trade negotiations with Mexico.