EURATEX urges EU Parliament to reject Pakistan waiver

The alleged motives for this decision- provide support to Pakistan after the 2010 floods- are completely outdated and senseless in the current economic and financial situation in Europe.

Commenting on the Waiver proposal vote in the European Parliament this Thursday EURATEX President, Mr. Alberto Paccanelli, said “We are confident that, in their decision, Members of Parliament will take into account the difficult economic situation facing Europe and in particular some of the European countries that risk of being more negatively affected by the increasing imports coming from Pakistan”.

The T&C Industry provides over 1,8 million direct jobs in the EU and this should not be underestimated in the current scenario of climbing unemployment.

Besides, Pakistan T&C Industry already benefits from strong financial assistance from the local Government and does not need additional help to gain market share in the EU. Talking about Pakistan’s Textiles Policy 2009-2014 Mr. Alberto Paccanelli stated “Our competitors in Pakistan obtain extensive Government support in the form of drawback of taxes that can reach up to 4% of the FOB value of Exports, loans at reduced rates, reimbursements on social security taxes and incentive schemes that favour the creation of large export companies”.

We recall that Pakistan is the 4th EU Textile Supplier benefiting from a dominant position in the market for a number of products that are included in the Waiver- in some cases Pakistan represents over 80% of Extra-EU Imports. Moreover Pakistan has been steadily and continuously growing its exports towards the EU over the years: in 2005 the value of Imports from Pakistan was 2.217 million € to reach 3.222,5 million € in 2011. The fact that Pakistan has prices that are in average lower than its main competitors is certainly one of the reasons for this enviable performance.

Since the issue was firstly raised two years ago Euratex has been claiming there is no economic or even humanitarian reason for the Waiver as Mr. Paccanelli evoked in the letter he wrote to MEPs “Pakistan’s T&C industry is highly competitive and the main exporters to the EU are state-of-the-art companies benefitting from large financial support from the Government with turnovers-over 200 million €- largely surpassing what is the average for European SMEs. The Waiver will exclusively profit these companies and not the poor populations that suffered from the floods in 2010”.

EURATEX hopes that during the incoming vote in the European Parliament MEPs will take into account the interests of the EU Textile and Clothing Industry and all its workers deciding to reject the Waiver proposal that has absolutely no merits being of an economic or humanitarian nature.

Euratex accounts for € 179 billion Turnover, 1,834 million workers and 146.000 companies

EURATEX