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EU backs textile deal, Denmark slams quotas
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-08 06:50
BRUSSELS/PARIS, Sept 7 - EU states backed a plan on Wednesday to free up
blocked Chinese textile imports but Denmark slammed the deal as out of touch
with modern trade, a sign of how deep divisions remain over Europe's response to
Asian competition. Reuters reported.
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| EU
Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson (L) and China's Commerce Minister Bo
Xilai pause during their joint press conference, after signing a China-EU
textile agreement in Beijing September 5, 2005.
[Reuters] | European Trade Commissioner Peter
Mandelson -- who has been buffeted by the rival interests of Europe's textile
producers and retailers -- praised the "solidarity" of member states and said he
expected the goods would begin to be released next week.
Tens of millions of Chinese-made trousers, bras, jumpers and other clothes
have been prevented from entering the EU after import quotas began filling up,
just weeks after they were announced in June.
The new quotas were an attempt to slow huge growth of Chinese textile imports
to Europe this year, after a previous quota system expired on January 1.
Under an agreement this week between Brussels and Beijing, the European Union
and China will share the impact of allowing the blocked goods into the region,
with the Chinese government accepting lower export quotas for 2006.
That was a key demand of European countries with their own textile
industries, like France, Italy and Spain.
Countries with strong retail sectors like Germany and the Nordics had pressed
Brussels to release the goods.
The prime minister of Denmark -- which was among the countries pushing for
the quotas to be lifted -- on Wednesday criticised the revised China deal.
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