 Good afternoon everybody. My name is Michael Collins, and I'm the director general of the Institute of International and European Affairs here in Dublin And I'm very pleased to welcome you to this our latest IIEA webinar We are really delighted that so many of you could join us for this occasion Those of you here in Ireland around Europe in the United States and indeed beyond This event is part of our future of the EU 27 project Which is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and it's jointly organized with the European Commission of Representation here in Ireland We're greatly honored to be joined today by European Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan Commissioner Hogan will speak to us for about 15 minutes or so and then we will go Directly to your questions and his answers and you'll be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom Which you should see on your screen Please feel free to send your questions as they occur to you and we will put as many as we can to the Commissioner in the time available Today's presentation and the Q&A are both on the record And please feel free also to join the discussion on Twitter using the handle at IIEA We're also live-streaming this lunchtime discussion So a very warm welcome to not only those of you on Zoom, but also those of you who are tuning in via YouTube Phil Hogan our Commissioner the Commissioner was appointed a Commissioner for Trade in 2019 under the new Commission of President Ursula von der Leyen and the Commissioner previously served as Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2014 to 2019 Prior to this Commissioner Hogan was a member of the Irish government was Ireland's Minister for the Environment Community and Local Government from 2011 and 2014 and chairman of his party the Finnegayl party EPP between 1995 and 2001 he was first elected to the Irish Parliament at all in 1989 Commissioner Hogan you're warmly. Welcome. Can't be the fault. You're very warmly welcome to this IA event. The platform is now yours Go wrong. I go to the heel. I was on a awesome van Queen of Shaw and you so chairman ladies and gentlemen It's a great pleasure for me to participate in this event organized by what you've said Michael the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin I'm very grateful for the IEA and the Commission and coming together as part of this business dialogue It's the first time to participate in an IE event in this way since I became Commissioner But we're all getting used to it at the moment and tell us in terms of video conferencing and teleworking Like all of the workers and businesses that must do the same So from the point of view of where I stand the Commissioner for Trade I welcome this opportunity to contribute about what is happening and what might be happening and my views of the future in terms of trade So I'm convinced of course that international trade has a critically important role to play in economic recovery And I will explain this during the course of my few words and I'm sure in the questions and answers What's also true is that we do need to learn lessons from this crisis and to apply them in forming a kind of trade policy that we want in the future But first of all I want to take an opportunity Michael to congratulate you on your appointment as Director General of the IEA Following a very distinguished diplomatic career I think the IEA are very lucky to have you Available to them and you bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to your role All of which is very important in tackling the challenges that die ahead I also want to take the opportunity to express my sympathy to all of the families who are suffering bereavement or indeed Have somebody close to them that's very ill at the moment arising from this health pandemic Addressing any problem or challenge, of course, I suppose like we have today a rise requires a health metaphor a diagnosis of that problem or challenge and While the immediate challenge Continues to be the public health one with which our health systems are on the world are contending There's a huge economic challenge as well building up and the Commission and the governments of the EU are Being very active in implementing emergency measures to support the respective economies and to preserve as many jobs as possible But our fortunately, it's not always possible when you're closed down production and consumption at the same time The Commission analysis estimates a 9.7% decrease in global trade for 2020 and For the EU 27 the predicted COVID-19 related economic contraction Results in a reduction of 9.2% in exports of goods and services and an 8.8% decrease in imports the EU 27 in 2020 as well So in absolute terms this Means or this amounts to a fall in exports of around 285 billion euros and a fall of imports of around 240 billion euro So because of the volatility of this situation our department in trade and brother They mean to update our trade forecast based on the latest information available by the end of this month But today the European Commission has indicated what it's through spring forecast what the economic indicators are for 2020 And then they published them today. It's predicting a 7.4 percent reduction in GDP in 2020 and a major increase in unemployment in every member state and indeed every member state is going to be in recession in 2020 So that's not exactly great news, but it's not I'm sure a surprise to anybody But the essential point is that the global economy is subject to a profound and unprecedented shock and The public health and the economic challenges which are closely linked. It's clear now that we rely on the global arteries of trade To deliver vital goods like medical equipment and food to where they are needed most and equally the investment needed in the future To reinforce our public health capacity will require functioning economies with robust resilient and sustainable supply and value chains The choices that we make in the coming months Will determine not only our success in defeating the virus, which of course is the prerequisite but also the speed of our post corona economic recovery and our pre corona virus In at that stage international trade was one of the drivers of growth in the European Union But post corona we must build on our strengths and improve our trade performance And the European Union's strength and economic prosperity is built on openness both within our single market and in our global action And our openness before the crisis ranked about One of the highest in the world with 35 million European jobs depending on exports and 16 million jobs depending on European investment So in other words one out of seven jobs was depending on exports and and foreign direct investment into the European Union And in fact in Germany and in Ireland that figure is a remarkable one in four. This is two-thirds more than in the year 2000 So that sets the context of where we are in terms of exports and imports and economic indicators But trade is very important for our European small and medium-sized enterprises and our euro stats statistics show that 615,000 SMEs exported goods to various destinations around the world in 2019 This represents 87% of all EU exporting EU companies So by any measure SMEs the driving force of EU export performance Trade is not only a course about exports. It's also about imports Which are essential for a competitive and technologically advanced economy, which is trying to Provide high quality jobs and develop and manufacture courting-age products and satisfy consumer needs And the EU single market is in itself an illustration of the fundamental benefits that trade brings and For a continent as poor and raw materials as Europe Self-sufficiency therefore is objectively not an option and imports are indispensable There are lessons to be learned of course But we need to review our dependencies and ensure the resilience of our supply chains, but particularly in the health area Some dependence and vulnerabilities have been exposed here in the health area We weren't ready, but nobody was ready in relation to this pandemic Therefore we need to ensure that we support these vulnerabilities By looking carefully at what we have to do in order to ratchet up production with internally in the European Union But also to ensure that we have a stable and rules-based trading order as well because we need a lot of the imports for these particular health products from outside the European Union and that's likely to continue in the foreseeable future The challenge as President von der Leyen and President Charles Michel of the European Council stated in the roadmap for recovery Which they published recently is to reduce trade dependencies on areas that make us vulnerable and Instead to invest in strategic value chains and build more resilient infrastructure So we need to diversify we shouldn't be dependent on one geographical region We need to solidify our supply chains And that's the safest and most efficient way to respond to all sorts of crisis situations Not just repeats of the current pandemic If more countries pursue the track of self-sufficiency, it will increase competition for scarce resources Drive-up prices and deepen international hostilities. I think that would be a lose-lose situation to our people and for our economies So what we are advocating as is a model of what we call open strategic autonomy. So what does that mean? Simply put it means achieving the right balance between a Europe that is open for business That promotes open rules-based approach and the Europe that protects its people and businesses in areas where we're vulnerable So on the one hand, we will remain committed to a fair and open and rules-based trade situation to make our economy more competitive and dynamic Pursuing our sustainability goals and securing our position in the world And on the other we must strengthen our armory so that no one can take advantage of our openness The european single market is the most open economic situation in the world But this means we can be vulnerable So we have to have a necessary robust enforcement actions available so that we we get what we bargained for in our trade agreements And that we protect our economy from hostile actions So we're upgrading our trade defense instruments in that regard I think this is the right time to make the case for global cooperation So that it can be stronger and more forthright This is the time for the eu to show leadership in this area by leading the global efforts to reform the multilateral trade framework Like the wto by enhancing the transatlantic cooperation for a sustainable recovery Which we are doing with the united states and by securing market access opportunities abroad By having more free trade agreements and we need more of them We also need to protect the european union's openness against abuse and unfair trade As i've said by enhancing our toolbox in relation to trade defense instruments And we have to be mindful of course of what our citizens demand of us in terms of the european green deal and our commitments to sustainability As well as in the promotion of the digital economy and digital trade So the european commission has been active on the trade agenda since this crisis emerged and i just want to briefly Say a few words about this We've implemented two export authorization schemes for exports of personal personal protective equipment outside of the european union These measures are very short term. They're targeted For products that are in short supply And the second measure we have taken in recent days was to narrow down the scope of this to a small number of health products And adjusted the geographical application to include the western Balkans So this measure is just about three weeks left to run and after that we will decide whether we need it again So analysis of the first week of operation of this scheme in early april Indicates that over 90 of the applications for export authorizations were granted by member states So it wasn't an export ban These included authorizations in respect of exports to countries all over the world including in african asia and including Export authorizations that were granted for exports to the united states In fact, the united states was one of the top destinations for export authorizations in all of the tree categories of products In the health area that were covered by the scheme We've also on reasoned We in the last two weeks set up a clearing house for medical equipment for a period of six months It'll allow us to look at the demand and supply of for medical supplies But of course it's only as good as the information we get from the member states So hopefully we get full cooperation from the member states So that we get a good picture about where the shortages are and that we can do something about it in quick order So our conclusion based on the information that we have today Is that the scheme is operating well and as we had intended and the member states who will consult with the clearing house In the case of more than 70 of the export authorization applications received will get a good service Finding a path of course outside of out of the crisis requires not only that we act together as european union But act as a global community And for that reason we have been very active in various international formations like the g20 We had a recent meeting of the g20 and i proposed seven concrete proposals for immediate action A seven course menu as well And it also included trade facilitation trade liberalization Export finance reducing tariffs And while the eu left its imprint on the g20 statement We didn't get as much ambition as we would like but we're not finished yet There'll be another meeting hopefully in two weeks time and we've been in touch with the saudi arabian presidency of the g20 In order to see can we do more here particularly in reducing the costs of medical supplies through reducing vat and reducing tariffs We've already in the european union applied a universal tariff and vat suspension of medical equipment easing the pressure on prices for medical and protective equipment Because the european union wants to forge a positive agenda with our international partners and given that the european union united states transatlantic trade relationship Remains the central artery of the world economy I'm in regular contact with washington to make a strong case for greater transatlantic cooperation I've written in recent days again to the united states trade representative ambassador leisheiser To identify some leading principles where the us and the united states could work together To address the areas that have been impacted by trade policies And to help restore confidence and bring about a boost in economic activity Maybe more quickly than would be the case otherwise. So i'm looking forward to response from ambassador leisheiser in the coming days I think this gives us an opportunity this crisis to revive our transatlantic Relationship between the eu and the united states and to put on the sound or footing I hope that that will be the case taken by the united states So to conclude Mr chairman Today right across the europe Governments are taking tentative steps as we know to reopen their economies and their societies All of this is being done with the objective of not compromising the progress that has been made today in the health area and then flattening the curve Now we're being called on to assist one another to gradually reopen our economies and to reopen our communities in a safe way And our various policies will contribute to our economic recovery and international trade will play its part And we have the opportunity to use international Uh opportunities to complement the internal measures that we're taking within the european union And i think this can be achieved through what i've said earlier the model of open strategic autonomy Which would build the foundations for resilience for competitiveness and growth So our leaders i suppose owe it to our people Who have sacrificed so much this year to be brave and to be outward looking And to be honest about the choices that we have to take in the months and years ahead And i think that this is the true definition of leadership in a time of crisis. So thank you very much michael Thank you. Thank you very much commissioner for that very insightful comprehensive and indeed highly relevant Uh on on this issue of international trade and of course you rightly say that Uh that that trade policy is central to economic recovery. How do you see that? I mean trade policy obviously I'm getting trade going is going to take some time. So In how how do you think that that that trade can contribute? Uh to economic recovery in any kind of meaningful time scale? I suppose just to touch on another kind of a topical comment by by by president uh trump The other day when he in fact he he he the name checked arland in the context of Perhaps the relocation of farm pharmaceutical that some aspects of the pharmaceutical industry Back to the united states. It's a question of repatriation or relocation of some of these strategic industries Obviously, that's a sensitive issue. It's a sensitive issue for europe It's a sensitive issue for arland But more broadly i mean just making sure or assuring that we can get trade to be the kind of the To energize the recovery. How do you see that happening in any kind of a reasonable timeframe? Well, I suppose it's there's always a temptation at a time of crisis to close borders in every way and to you know Go back into the bunker as it were and in terms of what they need what needs to be done I think this would be a very much a wrong approach We have a lot of temporary measures put in place now like in the state aid rules Unlike in trade measures, which we need to eliminate and lift those restrictions as quickly as possible In order to ensure that our global supply chains are open and that they're fair and the rules based Uh in line with the wto rules So therefore keeping supply chains open to avoid protectionism is very important as as i've said earlier We're short of raw materials in the european union and many people will be surprised Surprised at the extent of that. So the european union needs imports too So it's in our interest in our european economies to be able to remain open in a global way Or to have those imports in order to have our companies able to produce the valuable products and the high quality products that they produce Now as secondly, I think what we have to do is improve our trade defense instruments So for example, if a country wants to take advantage of our vulnerability at the moment and buy up some of our Companies that will be of course in a difficult financial situation We have to be able to help them and therefore Reciprocal market access is very important Foreign direct investment screening is very important international procurement instruments are important And we are developing those in a stronger way at the moment in order to ensure that we have those available in 2020 And thirdly, I think We shouldn't get carried away with the notion of self-sufficiency because of what I said earlier We need imports but equally we have to recognize that we have vulnerabilities And we have the need for to diversify. We cannot be all dependent on medical supplies from china or south korea We have to look at this and it's worth noting that at the beginning of the corona virus There was only about 10 companies in europe producing masks Because of the work that commissioner britain did The commissioner for the internal market. There's now about 550 companies producing masks for the pandemic So this is a really a great contribution from the industrial production side of things in the european union And this is likely to be important in the future because people have to get back to work They need to be safe And also we need a reserve like we do for oil reserves as we did in the 1970s for oil reserves We had a 90 day supply arising from discussions at that time And now we I think we need for these pandemics and they'll probably be more regular in the future We need to look at this in terms of having a resilient stockpile stockpile of medical supplies for maybe 90 days as well I also think we need to look very much at reforming the international organization system So it's more effective and efficient like the wto in order to ensure that we get more speedier and quicker decisions And is enhancing the way that we do our trade through greater global cooperation And we have done a lot of trade agreements as well around the world. We have 40 trade agreements the european union And in 70 countries so we can do better in terms of the benefits we can get for our SMEs in this respect And there's major opportunities there and I think that we have to do more here to help our SMEs to get greater value Now the specific question that you mentioned about our friends in the united states and what they said about pharmaceuticals This comes up on a regular basis By the united states it's not today or yesterday that they're pointing to this problem that they allegedly have in relation to Pharmaceuticals being based in ireland And I regularly point out to them in my friends in the united states that they're you know That american companies don't locate in ireland for just for the fact that they love ireland They they do so because they'll make money And the company shareholders have to get a dividend for the investments they make And they save 1.7 billion euro in tariffs The fact that they're located in ireland or in the european union and that's a that's a significant amount of money So that the 10 top pharma companies in the world are located in ireland So they cluster around the innovation and the research and development that they do They cluster around the very highly qualified workforce that we have in ireland And it's not always recognized by the united states that about 60 of the products That are manufactured in places like ireland. They go back to the united states for intermediate treatment And then they come back into the european system again So the figures of exports are often distorted by this movement of goods over and back Because they have to get additional treatment and it's uh, it's his uh, often a controversial point that's been made in relation to The balance of trade figures between the ireland and the united states But the united states never include services Where they have a significant surplus with ireland and they have a deficit on goods But overall there is a balanced trade between goods and services between the united states and the and ireland and ireland But of course when we're discussing trade arrangements between the united states and the european union All is fair in love and war and all comes into play Uh, but I think that we need to have the right basis for the arguments and the right basis for the figures Thank you. Yeah, just coming back to that last point before we go to questions from the floors of where And obviously you've described the transatlantic trade as the central central artery Of the world economy How much more difficult is it going to be to achieve a transatlantic trade deal post-covid? I mean it was difficult enough Before covid how greater how much more challenging is it going to be in this covid environment to get a transatlantic deal? I hope that the united states will will appreciate that You know tariffs don't work because they reduce economic growth reduce economic activity and and actually limit jobs in terms of Of our industry and what we're trying to do now is reopen our economies and drive economic activity and growth So therefore we should be thinking about doing the opposite So I hope that you know common sense will prevail And that we can reduce costs together in various sectors by eliminating tariffs And this is where I feel that the united states and the european union can do a lot together as too Of the major economic regions of the world And we can do so within a plurilateral basis And we can do so within the rules and disciplines of the world trade organization So we have been trying to build the relationship Since I took office in the first of december. We were making some progress in the first few months Unfortunately in the last few weeks because of this pandemic it's understandable that Both european union and the united states have taken a breeder But I expect that we will get back speaking again next week And I live and hope that we actually achieve something that will give the confidence to the world economy That at least the two major economies of the world are working together keeping the business relationships open and keeping the trade Roots open it's worth noting michael not to be long winded about it that 60 percent are more of the foreign direct investment of the united states comes from the european union 55 percent of the foreign direct investment into the european union comes from the united states So whether we like it or not, we're very much interconnected and we have to ensure that that interconnectivity And global supply chains between us continue. It's in our interest economically and it's more of our interest now more than ever Okay, so let's take a few questions here one. Um, that's just come in from justin mccartney from the arish barmer's journal He says that commissioner, uh, germany represents 25 percent of the e youth gdp Yet accounts for 52 percent of total state aid Provided in response to cobit 19 Are you concerned that a relaxation of state aid rules threatens the single market by undermining the level playing field for businesses across member states Well, I suppose this is an economic and financial response of the european union, uh at the request of the member states about how we can actually Uh hold what we have in terms of the connectivity between employers and employees and keep companies alive in the short term It's a temporary measure these state aid relaxations That have been given and of course the firepower of germany as a very big economy is huge And I certainly expect that this will be analyzed in the coming months to ensure that there is a restoration of the the measures that were in place pre Uh, cobit 19 and also we'll take account during the course of the mff and during the course of the recovery fund Of the capacity of member states Uh, uh, whether there are inability whether their ability or inability to be able to provide this sort of firepower Is certainly something that we'll have to look at very carefully in the context of the envelopes will provide at the member states In the post economic recovery phase So you're you're I agree with you totally just and that this is a major amount of gdp In terms of the financial firepower being implemented by germany Uh, which other countries couldn't do that to the same extent And we have to take account to that in the future budget discussions and in the future economic recovery measures that we'll be putting in place Okay, um, just um a query here from our question here from lisa. Oh carol from the, uh, guardian i think the guardian brexit correspondent She said, um, she says michael gulf yesterday floated the idea And that the uk might abandon its goal of zero tariff zero quotas Unless eu budgets on its level playing field Um, uh demands what would that mean for the eu and would the eu have time given the corona virus Interruption to work out tariffs between now and december And she says further does the eu wants an extension to the transition period Well, I would hope that your secondary goal would negotiate Directly with mr. Barney and the team rather than negotiating in the airwaves or in the media in relation to these very sensitive issues We're going to have to make difficult decisions at the end of june We've waited a long time for the united kingdom to come up with its mandate and to be ready for to negotiate with the european union We've been very patient in the european union with the united kingdom in terms of the slow pace that it has shown in relation to engaging with the discussions And we take account of course of the illness of the prime minister and we hope that he Continues to his full recovery But I think that the place to do all of this work is at the table Of negotiations where there's been many opportunities, which have not been taken By the by the united kingdom in recent weeks So we hope that in the next two rounds of negotiations one of which are in next week That we will see much of more intensive work being done much more engagement So that the idea of even having to consider a transition won't be won't have to be considered at all But as you know, the this issue will come to a head at the end of june when there's a high level meeting between The president of the commission and the prime minister of the united kingdom Yeah, just um talking about the uk just again briefly of course they opened their own negotiations with the With the united states yesterday on the on a prospective transatlantic deal bilateral deal Without suggesting that it's a competitive business or two competitive business Is it more likely that the who's likely to get there first? Is the european union likely to get a deal with the united states in advance of the united kingdom? What's your sense of that? I've noticed the comments of any of the partners around the world at the united kingdom have tried to Negotiate an agreement since the 31st of january Since the withdrawal agreement was implemented and all of the partners I think have indicated including korea today South korea that they were prepared to wait to see the outcome of the brexit negotiations before they come to any conclusions about their bilateral agreement I suspect will be the same with the united states, you know, they will want to see how The issues that the united kingdom are dealing with the european union force because after all we have 450 million people in the european union There is about 60 70 million people in the united kingdom Yeah, yeah, mark size matters in trade michael Yeah Absolutely, so just a query here a question here from barry andrews our mvp And indeed my predecessor in this job He says thank you for your presentation commissioner does the commissioner have a view on the development of a foreign investment screening mechanism for ireland Similar to those developed in other eu member states well, there's 14 member states at the moment have set up foreign direct investment screening and Between now and october when the full implementation of the regulation comes into into effect I expect that every member state will have one. I noticed in recent weeks since this pandemic Uh, unfortunately can honest that there is a lot more interest in member states to ensure that they are Uh, prepared for any vulnerabilities in in key sectors in the european union And at the recent miniserial trade council, this was emphasized a lot by member states who do not have a screening mechanism to date But they are certainly fast tracking their plans to have one in the coming months And I think ireland has a has a has a screening mechanism at the moment But i'm sure it will be looking at strengtheners between now and october okay The question here from alan matthews the tcd emeritus professor of european agriculture could the commissioner elaborate on how the sustainable development chapters in free trade agreements could be strengthened with particular reference to the Mercer sewer fta awaiting ratification and pot role and the chief trade enforcement officer might play in the future Yes, well as you know alan the Market access gives you the leverage in order to get the gains that we make on sustainable development and trade and sustainable development now And an integral part of our trade policy And any of the free trade negotiations in the future that we will engage in It'll be the power of slimer's agreement will be a prerequisite In terms of its adoption by the third country that we're negotiating it It would otherwise we will not get a mandate from the european council of the european parliament And otherwise it would not be approved subsequently So you can see that trade and sustainability in the context of a european creel and deal digital trade digitization are all ratcheting up very much and We have been in touch with the mercer sewer countries to an In respect of this and we have laid it on the line as it were that Uh that the implementation of our trade and sustainability chapter is very important to engage with even in advance of the ratification of any such agreement So we have working groups being established now to look at as the same way as we did with our eu vietnamese Uh trade agreement to see the implementation of the trade and sustainability chapter front loaded as it were Because a lot of the market access issues will not be You know put into effect or come into effect for about seven or eight years So I think you can rely on the fact that this agenda item in respect of trade and sustainable development is going up The political agenda and will become more and more important as the once in years go by And I will be including this as part of my trade policy review Which i've announced recently and which i'll have completed by the end of this year The chief trade enforcement officer will be will be will be established in june And this is about implementation and enforcement of all aspects of our trade agreements of which we are 40 This includes not not just market access to get better benefits benefits for our SMEs But also it includes the implementation of all aspects of trade and sustainability And all the other 20 25 chapters that we have in our standard model of our free trade negotiations So I want to assure all that trade and sustainability go hand in hand Okay, thank you Question here from adrian van den hoven the director general of medicines are medicines for europe commissioner Thanks for the great work you have done to help secure the supply of critical icu medicines for europe during the crisis And look forward looking forward. You talked about an open and strategic economy For sectors like farmer's pseudocals How can we increase our strategic manufacturing capacity? And resilience from medicines while avoiding a dumb as he says protectionist initiatives like we see in some countries Well, we have to do both we have to continue to have our open supply chains because we will never Have a situation where we can manufacture everything in the european union as I said earlier Then we need imports for the purposes of manufacturing many of the products within the european union itself But we are what we have we have certainly a vulnerability in one or two sectors and particularly the health area demonstrated that We were dependent totally on china for medical supplies for india for some pharmaceutical products And therefore we have to assess now what supports we can give industry in order to produce some of those products And the role of science and research and innovation is going to be critical to this area as well So we have to evaluate the lessons learned from this covet 19 pandemic to see how we Where we are vulnerable and where we can as I said earlier Maybe look at the precedents created by the oil crisis of the 1970s where strategic reserves and stockpiling As one way but also more production in the european union is another way So you can take it that we will be Helping industry in in our industrial strategy to achieve these objectives as part of my trade policy review And as part of the implementation of our new industrial strategy Very good. Just a question here from lisha daily from j and j And thanks for the excellent presentation Acknowledge the great work of commissioners breton and Curia key days with the health care industry since the start of the pandemic On shortages export bans etc with weekly calls What would be very helpful though is a clear predictive data from ec DC to allow manufacturers a forecast future demand We should just want to get your thoughts on this Well, this is why we established the clearing house about two weeks ago and Again as I emphasize the clearing house information is only as good as the information and data we get from the member states We cannot force member states to give us the information and sometimes for competitiveness reasons They believe that with holding information is a good idea. It's not a good idea We can have we can do a lot together if we have the full picture And we can identify the shortages of products so that we can help To achieve the objectives that have been outlined by By your speaker Just a question of my own just we haven't spoken much about china even though it's obviously very much in the news and but just The question of whether and how the eu can steer as well as a safe course between The us and china In an environment I suppose where we as the eu are under increasing pressure To take sides how much do you see that as being a difficulty in this kind of post an extra difficulty in this post covid environment Well, obviously there's a lot of tensions rising between the united states and china and even though there was a lot of Goodwill generated between them in terms of this phase one trade agreement that they agreed in january 2020 Uh, certainly there's going to be pressure on the implementation of this agreement No inevitably because of the way that things have developed economically for both the united states and for china in terms of achieving those objectives But at the end of the day That the world trade organization Which is provides the rules and disciplines by which we work together Is very important and i'm disappointed that the united states have opted out Of the world trade organization for the moment by not agreeing to the independent dispute resolution mechanisms that are That have been in place since 1995 And I think that they should You know re-enter the discussions about how we can reform the world trade organization for the purposes of Making sure that we have a level playing field globally between the united states between and china and that china certainly Does not continue with its subsidization of state-owned enterprises and farm technology Our forced technology transfer And we have recently signed up to a statement with the united states in japan in order to have the question of industrial subsidies Looked at intensively and we're bringing that to our members of the wto now in an outreach And in an intensive way to see can we get support for this on a plurilateral basis? This is the way I think that we can do a lot more together Than separately by global cooperation rather than confrontation And we see building up now between now in the presidential elections in the united states There is going to be as I say in old-fashioned terms an era row Between those two entities and this is not going to be good for anybody Now the the european union at the same time is engaging in the with china in an investment agreement And we're making progress and we have set a target of completing these negotiations by the end of this year And if we do get the reforms that we need in state-owned enterprises and for industrial subsidies and issues like force technology transfer I think this will be very helpful to everybody and that we can embed this in the wto process for the benefit of all countries in the world And I hope that china will be able to You know bring themselves to understand that this is a very big problem And that we need to have action in these areas. Otherwise, we're going to have confrontation in another way Very good. Another query here a question from shona marie the bus's correspondent of euro news What are the implications if the trade agreement? The trade agreement is not negotiated by the end of the year with the uk And the uk says it's adamant The uk said it says that it's it's adamant that it will That that it won't agree to EU standards on level playing field issues Is there any way around this so that the uk isn't perceived as a rule taker? I think there are ways That should be explored the level playing field governance fisheries. They're all important issues that And of course the implementation of the withdrawal agreement is is going on in parallel particularly around the irish protocol So all of these issues are on the table at the moment But they need a lot more intensive engagement than we've seen in the last few weeks and months And if we want to achieve The outcome that is preferred by the united kingdom to have a deal by the end of the year We need to get need to get on with the job And the european union has a mandate. It's well known what our mandate is Our member states are guiding us in terms of what we cannot cannot do And there's certainly the the high level meeting that will be at the end of june will be a critical meeting In terms of seeing what we cannot cannot do and how many chapters we can agree Across the areas including the ones that will be mentioned by shona Okay, and I think you mentioned the question of of the leadership on several occasions And there's a few questions in in relation to the perhaps the absence of political leadership The absence of leadership maybe in other sectors as well And does it worry you or is it of concern just perhaps that there is a deficit Of leadership on some of these key areas of the economic and social political And not just uh, you know Generally on a global scale, maybe that there's a deficit there at the moment, which is Presents extra challenges in the current covid environment Well, I think there's it's leadership really is about working together And I it's certainly difficult to get people to work together at the moment in various regions of the world everybody Uh, and of course there are personalities involved in this as well And there's an election in the united states which we have to take into account Uh, but at the end of the day, we can see that over the years whenever there was a crisis including the financial crisis of 2008 When we worked internationally together, we got good results When we see what we did together in global cooperation on trade You know, we really ratcheted up the importance of trade in terms of job creation because of exports We have 35 million jobs now in the european union dependent on exports as I said earlier 16 million jobs And relating to foreign direct investment So if we do work together on trade if we do work together in Uh, you know health is an area which is a member state competence of the european union It's not a european competence But we are doing our best to coordinate the member states so that they can Have giant procurement for medical supplies so that we can have coordination in relation to transport Open green lanes to keep products moving and keeping the borders open So we've played our part in that but of course It takes everybody in the european union to be working together in a cohesive way to show leadership It takes everybody globally to work together to show that we can work out this together in terms of the session especially the the post-covid economic recovery and The the history of these crisis in the past have demonstrated when we work together we can solve these issues much more speedily Absolutely, so um just um One or two more queries I think we're going to um I don't think we're going to get around to all the questions unfortunately But uh, we'll get around to a few more before the commission has to take his leave Uh, so just a question here from bill emmett the former editor of the economist now at the glibing in ireland He said yesterday's decision by the german constitutional court in effect proclaimed the superiority of german national law Over eu law and eu treaties What are the implications of this for collective economic policies in trade state a fiscal And monetary affairs and how can this be resolved? That's quite a quite a big question Yes, well the the answers to that is germany are signatories of the european treaties where the supremacy of the european law supersedes national law And that's the position and of course uh, the european central bank now is Is is is is obliged to take certain actions if it's wishes in relation to bonds that uh Bonds that have been mentioned in that decision And we wait and see what the european board of the board of the european central bank is going to do on this But i can assure you that the european commission as the guardian of the european treaties Will be doing everything to ensure that the european sent court of justice and the illegal adjudication of matters at the european level Continue to be understood by every member state that they supersede national law Okay, just a question here from john griehlann, uh, who i think is an international trade consultant He has um just coming back to the transatlantic Prospective agreement he says hello commissioner. How will the eu handle digital trade in the transatlantic agreement? And how does the eu take in the oe cd stance on digital taxation? Well, we we are working with the united states as i said earlier in relation to a number of areas on industrial subsidies Which we signed up to with japan and the united states in in january We're equally prepared to talk to the united states about setting up a structure where we can work together on digital trade I think it's a very important area with the developments in international digital trade are huge and the speed by which they're Which they're going at is enormously challenging for policy makers And there is a battle i suppose ongoing globally to see whoever gets there forced in a number of innovations Especially around ai are you know, they're going to have a distinct advantage. So we are Asking the united states to cooperate which is in a more structured way And i think we're making progress on that trade and technology And the digital trade area in particular are going to be hugely Interconnected in the in the years ahead and then we want to work with the united states in order to ensure that we set the standards not somebody else And second question second part of the question for john i've just forgotten for a minute He says how does the eu take in the oe cd stance on? Well, we've had a we have We have a standstill at the moment in these negotiations rising from a deal that was true Between the european union and the united states earlier on digital taxation And we want the oe cd to continuous work and to come to A reflection of these with all the oe cd members by the end of this year. So This is going to be a december project i suspect And i suspect this is timed for being after the united states presidential election Just to to bring it back home, which is a little bit commissioner on the issue of strategic autonomy How worried should we be in ireland about its growing emphasis on strategic autonomy? um Obviously individual member states have spoken strongly the wrench. I think macron particular has spoken about uh the necessity to to To reshor or nearshore or bring back certain strategic industries. What do you see? I mean Uh As the perspective implications or indeed maybe opportunities for island disrespect. Shouldn't we be worried? Well, I think ireland as a as a vested interest in making sure that we have the most open rules based trade uh potential and globally than any other country in the european union for Uh, you know for many of our sectors 80 percent of what we produce as exporters so we have a vested interest in ensuring that the the global supply chains remain over and that the That the restrictions are lifted And in the context of policy I expect that the vast majority of the european union member states will Want to continue on the same basis that we have now in terms of an open rule based multilateral approach Based on a reformed and effective wto And they also want to see more free trade agreements and that they're implemented better And that there's better benefits from them from the for sms But of course as i mentioned earlier we have found during this crisis that we need to diversify and we need to look at We cannot be dependent on china or south korea or countries like that for all our medical supplies or india We have to look at ways in which we can actually reduce this vulnerability And stockpiling and reshoring is one way of doing it and for there and and the french commissioner and ireland We agree on this that for vulnerabilities. We have to do something to ensure that we have Product available to our citizens at a time of crisis And that can be produced locally or it can be actually imported from abroad to and stockpiled within the european union No, we can do both Here's a question from Sebastian messier who's from Merck from a german a german pharmaceutical company, of course Thank you for this very interesting discussion You spoke about the importance of open trade and the damage caused by tariffs And do you see an opportunity for the eu to lead towards updating the wto's zero through zero agreement on pharmaceuticals? He says it hasn't been updated since 2011 Yes, I agree that this is what we should do. We should update and find more members to join our wto pharmaceutical agreement because Reeliminating tariffs Is one way of where we can be helpful in this pandemic and into the future for an essential Medical supplies as we've seen they're very much essential And we have to prepare better for the future in terms of a future pandemic But reducing costs is one of them and we have unilaterally in the european union already on a temporary basis eliminated tariffs and vat in respect of medical supplies So we are we are voting with our feet in relation to this matter in terms of the actions. We have taken ourselves unilaterally very good, um, so a question here from um Just want to know not trying to be uh, facetious as a genuine question How much longer export restrictions are going to be a factor of eu trade policy? Given this is about using trade as a way out of the crisis can't ignore The fact restrictions on exports are currently part of the overall response Strategy, this is from ali renas on the head of the eu trade policy the iod in uk Well, we don't have export restrictions in terms of european policy But there are a number of member states that have engaged in restrictive practices which we are uh, certainly not happy about and the european commission is uh Talking to those countries initially in order to remove those trade restrictions Some of which are totally unnecessary and completely out of kilter with the single market And if those restrictions are not lifted, we will have to look at infringement proceedings against those member states We are taking very strong action in terms of protecting the integrity of the single market Of course, which one of the principal architects of establishing the single market was market thatcher Indeed Um, I just in terms of the timescale, um, obviously 2020 is going to be um, obviously a very very difficult year Um, when do you see a trade? In a best-case scenario returning to anything like the levels of pre-covid? A number of years. I'm afraid uh, michael, uh, this is going to be a slow situation where you have to build up all of the various changes that have been disrupted by Restrictive practices and some of those chains unfortunately will be broken So this is going to be a constant battle for the rest of my mandate in trade I'm afraid to put the put the jigsaw back together again But hopefully in the second half of this year, we will see our economies Improving again as businesses get back to work our workers get back through our businesses to work Uh, and therefore we can see economic growth again We're projecting economic activity to an economic growth to be six percent next year Provided on the assumption that we get the second half of the year that we're able to open our businesses and all of our member states To a fairly large extent Um, just coming towards so we have a bit of another five minutes I think commissioner before I think we have to to leave and maybe we would just um And just ask one or two more questions And if give you an opportunity to wrap up as well if you if you'd like to do that And just a question in from Alessio Verone As several media mentioned the joint french dutch non paper on tougher enforcement of environment and labor standards in eutrade deals They propose to link tariff liberal liberalization with the efficient Implementation of sustainable development commitments for this purpose They suggest that tariff reductions should be divided into stages and applied only if tfd provisions are fully implemented Would it be something the commission would consider? Well, look, we take views from everybody and we're very happy to see the french and the dutch getting together To produce a paper it was built largely around trade and sustainability And and the chapters associated with the sustainability and climate I didn't mention much about market access, but it links mark tariffs to these issues that you've just mentioned My my view is that there is going to be Always an emphasis and more and more growing emphasis From the council and the parliament to be more ambitious on trade and sustainability How we do that of course is open to question But of course we must remember there is another third party at the other side of the table that if you make the situation Difficult for them. You'll either pay a price in concessions you have to make in other areas or you won't have a deal at all So how how we do that is certainly open It's an interesting proposition that the french and the and the dutch paper has put forward And of course we'll consider every every idea like this in terms of the review of our trade policy Which will be going on between now and the end of the year Okay, um, just maybe just one One or two, uh, one one final question if I may did you mention the the export authorization scheme? Um, and and its effectiveness But I just I'm just interested in knowing how difficult it has been and balancing the the medical supply needs of the EU member states with all the sensitivities that are around that And authorize the exports to other countries outside the EU I think you mentioned in your remarks that 90 percent of applications were Granted, um, I mean, obviously there has been some sensitivity about intra EU trade in some of these sensitive pharmaceuticals and PPE equipment how getting the balance right between Managing our local needs and maintaining our export markets. How difficult has that been? It's been very difficult Michael because in the beginning we had a lot of restrictions to trade Where people really closed down their borders back in early March And because of the restrictions that they imposed we had to bring forward a A harmonized approach through these export authorization scheme in order to get people off the hoop politically But also to understand that there was going to be a monitoring arrangement where If countries were not in compliance with the integrity of the single market that we're going to run into difficulties So this was the measure that the member states agreed It has worked fairly well, but of course as I said in my previous reply. There are still some restrictions which are unacceptable Um, but I think by and large it could have been a lot worse if we didn't put in this Authorization scheme and to balance that with some of the desire of some member states to be restrictive Um, we did uh, you know, I think that this scheme really where it has been successful Is not on the political side in in dealing with some of the earlier restrictions, but equally monitoring Where the products were being developed? Who was developing them and that there were actually those scarce supplies? Or where they were going to and i'm glad that 90 percent of them were going to the european union And what it shows from the figures that I have You know that we weren't averse To exports going to the united states or russia either provided that there was a humanitarian issue involved where there was a need for Emergencies and we lifted any authorizations From those particular companies that could display and show that there was a humanitarian issues involved in a crisis of an emergency Involved as well another part of the world. We've adjusted that Authorization in recent times to include the western Balkans as well for that purpose Thank you commissioner. We're just just at the limit of your time here. So we're going to have to let you go Um, I I think you've covered nearly everything. I don't know whether that's any final remarks you want to make Uh, just to wrap this up Yeah, just to thank you very much uh, michael and the iea for and the european commission for coming together to organize this I uh, you know, certainly is the it's the new way of telling the story the way we're doing this today And I hope that people got the latest data play in relation to The information that I have and that's available You know, it's going to cost a huge amount of money at the end of the day in order to reach to reboot our economies The european commission is talking about a budget now Of multi the multi financial framework and then in a recovery fund on top of that of 1.5 trillion euros So it's not going to be small money But it's needed in order to ensure that we get back people back to work We get our economies up and running again Of course, uh, and this is the secondary issue Of course, are the overriding issues to make sure our people are healthy and safe And that the best possible care and attention is given by our frontline services who are doing an excellent job So we're working as best we can together to make sure that we keep all avenues open And we work in cooperation with each other and the european commission stands ready to continue this coordination role across the board Uh, and we will do our best We'll never get everything right But we will certainly do our best to coordinate the member states to get as much as we can write in the interest of our people And thank you very much Thank you very much commissioner and and thank you to the more than 700 people who joined us as part of this webinar We, uh, we thank you commissioner for for your contribution and good luck with all of the challenges ahead We'd like to invite everybody who Days of our webinar services and Facility and to to stay in touch with us and we have another A major Webinar coming up on friday where we'd have the promised on minister for our affairs sign with coveney Speaking to us But whether it's on that occasion or future occasions Please do stay connected with that the IAA during these times through the medium of the webinar And in the meantime, stay well and stay safe. Thank you very much indeed