Parliament’s lead negotiator on a planned customs revamp has put capitals on blast for blocking new powers for the EU, which he says are absolutely necessary to make the bloc more resilient against an ongoing flood of cheap e-commerce deliveries from China.
The spat concerns a customs data hub that would connect national authorities so they can better coordinate deliveries, a sorely needed reform, as many have essentially lost control over the surging number of parcels.
Dirk Gotink, a Dutch Christian Democrat, said that the most recent round of trilogue negotiations on Thursday stalled because the Council was unwilling to give more powers to EU bodies.
While Parliament has proposed giving the European Public Prosecutor’s Office direct access to the planned treasure trove of customs data, for example, the Council wants to keep national authorities as an intermediary link.
“Centralising data storage and then not being able to use it at the European level would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the reform,” Gotink said. “In that case, non-compliant products would continue to flood our internal market.”
Gotink said it was becoming more unlikely that trilogue negotiations will be done before Christmas.
“Unfortunately the political urgency we hear every day on the ground and from national politicians is not yet translating to a willingness to work on real European solutions,” he said.
Anna Cavazzini, chair of Parliament’s internal market committee, shared Gotink’s concern. She told Euractiv that without EU-level access to customs data, the reform would not make European consumers safer.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Cavazzini said.
The Danish Council Presidency told Euractiv that it aims to finalise talks in the next negotiation session on 10 December, but admitted that “a number of very difficult outstanding issues” remained where Parliament and Council “don’t see eye to eye.”
Authorities’ access to the data hub should be carefully managed, as open access could lead to misuse, the presidency said.
“Of course, no one wants to prevent relevant authorities from accessing the data they need to go about their important work,” said a Danish Council Presidency spokesperson.
Eurocommerce – a lobby group of European and US traders – told Euractiv that it would like the negotiations concluded as soon as possible and that other authorities should also be able to use the planned data hub.
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