Instrumentos de evaluación

EU’s trade agreements with Canada and Japan so that the public and businesses were aware of them and how to benefit from them.

During the year the Commission published its first comprehensive annual report assessing the implementation of the EU’s trade agreements. This enabled other EU institutions, stakeholders and civil society to scrutinise how the EU is implementing the agreements. The Commission also carries out regular impact assessments, sustainability impact assessments and evaluations of its trade negotiations and subsequent agreements. These include in-depth consultations with stakeholders and regular meetings with civil-society groups throughout the process.

In December the Commission set up the Group of Experts on EU Trade Agreements, an advisory body comprising trade unions, employers’ organisations, consumer groups and other non-governmental organisations. It provides the Commission with different perspectives on and insights into trade.

Other trade negotiations

Work continued during the year to open up new markets for EU exports by increasing the number of partners with which it has trade agreements from the current 91. The EU launched new trade negotiations and made good progress in ongoing talks. With the negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement with the United States having stopped, the EU’s trade focus with the United States has been on identifying areas in which they should cooperate more closely to help better address global challenges together. In the meantime, the two sides signed a bilateral agreement on insurance and reinsurance, which will boost consumer protection and cut costs and red tape for EU insurers and reinsurers active in the United States.

Southern and eastern neighbourhood

In the southern neighbourhood the EU focused on the negotiations for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Tunisia, setting the pace for progress with north Africa. In June, as a complement to the negotiations, the Commission and the International Trade Centre in Geneva launched the

EuroMed Trade Helpdesk. By providing businesses with essential information about markets, tariffs and import requirements, the Helpdesk aims at strengthening economic ties between the EU and nine Mediterranean partners, as well as between Mediterranean countries themselves.

In the eastern neighbourhood the EU concentrated on implementing its agreements for Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Latin America

The EU continued the negotiations launched in 2016 to modernise the trade agreement it signed with Mexico in 2000. Five rounds of negotiations were held and good progress was made. The new

Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis attending the EU–Asia-Pacific Forum, Hong Kong, 1 December 2017.

70 THE EU IN 2017

agreement will simplify administrative burdens, cut red tape, boost growth and competitiveness, widen consumer choice and create jobs on both sides, while supporting sustainable development. In line with the EU’s progressive trade agenda the agreement includes specific anti-corruption provisions.

Trade talks with the four founding members of the Mercosur trading bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) continued in 2017. The talks aim to integrate two regional markets, cut tariffs, greatly increase business opportunities in Mercosur, widen consumer choice, simplify administrative burdens, cut red tape, boost growth and competitiveness and create jobs on both sides.

In November the EU launched negotiations with Chile to update the 2002 EU–Chile Free Trade Agreement. As part of the modernisation of the existing agreement the EU will propose to include pilot provisions on gender.

Asia and Australasia

Negotiations also continued on trade agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines. The talks aim to increase trade between the EU and the two countries and to expand direct investment. The objective is to reach agreements similar to those signed with Singapore in 2014 and Vietnam in 2015. During the year the EU held three rounds of negotiations with Indonesia and two rounds with the Philippines. In March the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to take new steps towards resuming free trade talks between the two regions.

The EU also held four rounds of talks in its negotiations for an investment agreement with China, but paused its negotiations for an investment agreement with Myanmar/Burma. The Commission proposed that trade talks be launched with Australia and New Zealand.

African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

The EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Development Community began to be implemented at the start of 2017. Similar agreements with Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana began during the spring. In July the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the eastern and southern African countries of Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe was further strengthened by the addition of Comoros.

Commissioner Cecilia Malmström welcoming Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brussels, 28 August 2017.

71 Fighting terrorism remained

a top political priority on the EU’s agenda in 2017, and great strides were taken towards building an effective and genuine Security Union, in full respect of fundamental rights. The EU delivered on the European Agenda on Security by making it a criminal offence to travel and train for terrorist-related purposes, and took a tougher stance against the financing of terrorism and the trafficking of firearms, drugs and people. New improvements were also proposed to enable Member States to exchange data on criminals more efficiently. Work continued on implementing new rules

protecting EU citizens’ personal data across the EU and

beyond, which will become applicable in 2018. In parallel,

the EU continued to promote data protection standards internationally, notably with Japan, South Korea and the United States. The first annual review of the EU–US Privacy Shield framework, which provides stronger protection for transatlantic data flows, marked an important milestone for cooperation on data

protection issues. A number of prominent internet companies responded to the EU’s Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online and clamped down faster and harder on illegal content that appeared on their pages.

Twenty Member States agreed to establish the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will step up the fight against crimes affecting the EU budget.

The EU also took action to pursue gender equality in the workplace and signed the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

‘I intend to make use of the prerogatives of the Commission to uphold, within our field of competence, our shared values, the rule of law