The suggestion is Mandelson’s second proposal in two months to bridge an agreement between free marketeers such as Britain, Denmark, Germany and Sweden – who strongly oppose the imposition of protectionist tariffs that would harm trade relations with China and raise prices for consumers – and shoe manufacturing countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Poland and Portugal, who are pressuring the Commission to act after investigations showed that Vietnamese and Chinese manufacturers are benefiting from low-cost financing and tax breaks to create unfair competition.
So far, free traders are winning the battle. Government officials from 14 Member States rejected the proposal in a provisional vote on 3 August in an anti-dumping advisory committee.
Nevertheless, Mandelson has decided to stick to the proposal and will present it to his fellow Commissioners on 30 August 2006. His spokesman Peter Power said: “We have to find the middle ground… If that middle ground can't be found it won't be for lack of effort on the part of European Commission - it just means that middle ground can't be found.”
Mr Aberto Silvio Bichi, secretary-general of the European Federation of Sporting Goods Industries, which represents manufacturers like Adidas and Nike that import shoes from Asia, said the federation’s “number one priority is to have no duties whatsoever”.
And this could be the result if Member States fail to resolve their split before 6 October 2006, when the preliminary anti-dumping duties introduced in April will end, allowing cheaper shoes to flow into Europe.
