Milan, 11 Sept. (LaPresse) – “The rule of simple common sense is that you cannot enter into free trade agreements with nations that do not meet your own standards. It’s one or the other: either you lower your standards or you defend them. We do not compete on quantity”, but “on quality, and we have a duty to defend that quality”. This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Vercelli, at the opening of the second edition of Risò, the International Rice Festival. “The rice supply chain,” she emphasised, “is one of the flagships of ‘Made in Italy’, a sector that competes on quality in all international markets. And, aware of this ability to compete, we are convinced that this heritage must be promoted, safeguarded and defended against unfair competition from nations that do not respect our own labour, environmental and social standards.” “These are battles we have been fighting from the outset, which we have waged and continue to wage vigorously, and which we have reiterated at every negotiating table. The issue of free trade agreements, including the agreement with the countries of South-East Asia, addresses this need.” There is “the issue of the use of plant protection products banned in the EU but permitted in other parts of the world,” Meloni observed.
EU, Meloni in Vercelli: “No free trade agreements with those who do not meet the same standards”
Milan, 11 Sept. (LaPresse) – “The rule of simple common sense is that you cannot enter into free trade agreements with nations that do not meet your own standards. It’s one or the other: either you lower your standards or you defend them. We do not compete on quantity”, but “on quality, and we have a duty to defend that quality”. This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Vercelli, at the opening of the second edition of Risò, the International Rice Festival. “The rice supply chain,” she emphasised, “is one of the flagships of ‘Made in Italy’, a sector that competes on quality in all international markets. And, aware of this ability to compete, we are convinced that this heritage must be promoted, safeguarded and defended against unfair competition from nations that do not respect our own labour, environmental and social standards.” “These are battles we have been fighting from the outset, which we have waged and continue to wage vigorously, and which we have reiterated at every negotiating table. The issue of free trade agreements, including the agreement with the countries of South-East Asia, addresses this need.” There is “the issue of the use of plant protection products banned in the EU but permitted in other parts of the world,” Meloni observed.