Trade: EU wants to better prepare the internal market for crises

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trade
EU wants to better prepare the internal market for crises

A freight train with containers on freight wagons is traveling in the port. The European Parliament and the EU states want to better prepare the European internal market for crises with new regulations. photo

© Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa

Closed borders and delivery bottlenecks have presented EU countries with major challenges during the corona pandemic. Problems should not repeat themselves – there should be new EU rules for that.

With a new emergency instrument, the… In the future, the EU internal market will be better protected against crises such as the corona pandemic, for example by making border closures more difficult. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU states want to use the instrument to ensure, among other things, that supply chains for critical goods and services remain stable, as stated in communications from the two institutions.

The EU states said the instrument is based on the lessons learned from recent crises such as the corona pandemic, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the energy crisis. The guidelines therefore serve to predict the effects of future crises, prepare for them and respond to them.

The emergency instrument strengthens better crisis management, and people in border areas in particular benefit from it, explained the EPP group’s internal market policy spokesman, Andreas Schwab (CDU). “We have now compiled a black list of reasons that no longer justify closing the border.” The Commission should also be able to procure necessary goods on behalf of the member states and to ask companies to give priority to producing certain goods such as vaccines, said Schwab.

Before the agreement becomes binding for all member states, it must be approved by the EU states and Parliament. In most cases this is a formality.

dpa

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