EU Parliament Head Calls For Resilience Against Retaliatory Measures Of Trade Partners

European Parliament President David Sassoli said on Wednesday that the European Union needs to come up with a policy that would ensure it is not susceptible to retaliatory measures coming from foreign trade partners as part of a greater strategy for bloc-wide economic, social and environmental sustainability

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2020) European Parliament President David Sassoli said on Wednesday that the European Union needs to come up with a policy that would ensure it is not susceptible to retaliatory measures coming from foreign trade partners as part of a greater strategy for bloc-wide economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Last week, as France, Germany and the United Kingdom said they would invoke the dispute resolution mechanism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action over Iran's violation of its nuclear commitments, media speculated that they could have been pressured into the move by the United States which threatened them with a 25 percent tariff on all auto imports.

"We want to have a policy which does not allow ourselves to be buffeted by the actions of our partners who can take trade retaliatory measures," Sassoli said in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

According to the EU parliament chief, for Europe to "assume moral leadership of the world and be able to meet the demands of today's society," it needs a fundamental rethink of its policies that must have all three of the economic, social and environmental facets enshrined in it.

For example, he said that tackling climate change only makes sense together with tackling economic inequality as egalitarian societies have proven to be more successful in organizing themselves into environment-friendly economies.

Sassoli said any such change at the EU level � be it a more just tax system or rethinking economic activity in terms of growth rather than prosperity � will need to be reflected at the national level of member states.

The nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. In May 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew and hit Iran with sanctions. Since May 2019, Iran has been gradually abandoning its own nuclear commitments, with the last batch dropped on January 5, as Tehran said it would no longer comply with permitted levels of uranium enrichment.

The 50th annual World Economic Forum began on Tuesday and will run through Friday in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos.