Ahead of tomorrow's first orientation debate on the possibility of granting Market Economy Status to China, the president of the Socialists and Democrats Group, Gianni Pittella, has warned about the high risks of Chinese social, environmental and fiscal dumping on European industries.
Gianni Pittella stated:
"The S&D Group is convinced that automatically granting Market Economy Status to China would be premature. Given the current economic situation worldwide, we call on the European Commission to proceed with a full and formal impact assessment before taking any decision in this regard. There are many European industries, especially in the steel, ceramics, solar and textiles sectors that could be dramatically hit by Chinese social, environmental and fiscal dumping. In order to be able to better cope with the goods dumped on our market coming from China and other countries, we urge the European Commission and the Council to unlock the reform of the Trade Defence Instruments of the EU.
"Thousands of jobs are at risk. Our aim is not to protect markets, but to ensure fair competition, preventing the harmful effects of unfair practices, like dumping and subsidies. Our citizens would not understand if the EU, as a whole, was not able to react swiftly and effectively."
