On 29 March the EESC held the first European Civil Society Forum on trade and sustainable development (TSD), bringing together civil society, academia, EU and international institutions to discuss innovative ideas and concrete recommendations on the future of EU trade policy. 

Taking place at a critical time for trade and sustainable development, the event involved a series of breakout sessions which covered issues ranging from substantive rights to monitoring, enforcement and much more, inviting participants to voice their views as part of the ongoing review of the 15-point action plan on TSD and recent developments in EU partner countries. 

"The EESC commits to being a driving force for an ambitious TSD debate that reflects the high expectations of civil society", Committee President Christa Schweng reaffirmed. She also referred to the geopolitical challenges of our times: The war in Ukraine, like so many others, has a sustainability dimension: it is about resources and dependencies in a world impacted by climate change.

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament International Trade committee, underlined that the global framework had changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian aggression. The multilateral system is in danger, he said, and it is clear that more emphasis should be given to bilateral trade agreements.

Luisa Santos from Business Europe shared the view that there is a crisis in multilateralism, but added: We should not give up, because we need the multilateral institutions to maintain the dialogue, pointing to a number of recent environmental initiatives at World Trade Organization (WTO) level. 

Anaïs Berthier from Client Earth believed that EU trade policy was too isolated from other policies, such as environment and climate policies. She stressed that: Autonomous initiatives undertaken must guarantee that the products put on the EU market meet sustainability criteria. 

Maria Martin-Prat, deputy director-general for Trade at the European Commission, who is leading the ongoing work on the TSD review, said coherence would not be the goal, but that it is what is effective and makes the change. 

Jean-Marie Paugam, deputy director-general at the WTO, stressed that trade should not be an obstacle to environment policies. "For sustainable development, we have a trade measures notifications mechanism and we have seen that massive trade measures have been leveraged to environment objectives". 

Tanja Buzek, chair of the EESC Follow-up Committee on International Trade and rapporteur of the EESC opinion on the TSD review, set the bar high on expectations saying that "our priorities on the TSD review should be met with a fresh mindset, which also means breaking down the silos". An ambitious review must feature a revamped sanctionable enforcement approach with stronger civil society monitoring, using innovative instruments and enhancing the leverage for TSD. (at)