Brussels – Stop some trade preferences for developing countries that do not cooperate on migration and returns. This is the main novelty of the agreement reached late last night (1 December) between the EU institutions on the revision of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) regulation, the scheme through which 65 non-EU countries can gain privileged access to the European single market. The preferences,” reads an EU Council note, “may be withdrawn if a beneficiary country does not cooperate on the readmission of its own nationals.
Negotiations to revise the instrument, which began in 1971 and was last amended in 2014, have dragged on for almost four years. The rise of far-right parties across Europe and the assertion of an increasingly strict migration policy (with a renewed focus on returns) led to the inclusion, for the first time, of conditionality linking trade measures to the fight against irregular migration.
The European Commission “welcomed” the agreement between the co-legislators, noting that “the GSP in its current form already provides for certain conditions” for beneficiary countries. On respect for human rights and the environment, in particular. What changes now is that “certain provisions will encourage countries to strengthen cooperation on the readmission of their nationals. Nothing more, nothing less,” said the EU executive spokesman responsible for trade, Olof Gill.
In essence, the European Commission will have the power, after informing the EU Council and the European Parliament, to terminate trade preferences with countries that fail to comply with their obligations to repatriate their nationals residing irregularly in the EU. Obligations, in this sense, exist only for third countries that have concluded specific readmission agreements with Brussels, such as Ethiopia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and Morocco. But also Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In all, there are more than 20.
The Group of Socialists and Democrats stated in a note that “thanks to the persistent efforts” of its negotiators, the final agreement “ensures that any consideration of readmission is strictly a measure of last resort, subject to clear safeguards and a rigorous procedure,” whereas the European Commission’s initial proposal “risked introducing cooperation on readmission of migrants as a criterion for the withdrawal of trade preferences.”
The other conditions: human rights, environment, and the rice clause
The new framework introduces other novelties. Beneficiary countries will be required to comply with more international conventions on human and labour rights, and Brussels will have an emergency procedure for the rapid withdrawal of preferences in the event of violations of the principles of these conventions, as well as in the event of serious and systematic violations of climate change and environmental protection conventions. The EU also provided for a gradual transition for countries that will cease to be considered LDCs in the next decade and will therefore no longer benefit from the GSP regime, and lowered the threshold of imports in a specific sector above which a country temporarily loses preferences from 57 per cent to 47 per cent.
To overcome resistance from Italy and Spain, an automatic specific safeguard mechanism for rice imports has also been introduced: in the event of a significant increase over the historical average of imports into the EU, these imports will be subject to World Trade Organisation MFN (Most Favoured Nation) duties for a specific period to avoid “severe disruption of the EU rice market.” The Renew Liberal Group assured in a note that “the mechanism will be used in a proportionate manner, with safeguards before any suspension, including extended evaluation procedures for least developed countries.”
The agreement will now have to be approved by the Council and Parliament before it is formally adopted. The legislation will then apply from 1 January 2027.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
