The time for free trade without limits is gone, let's change software! Last week, the European Commission published a reflection paper entitled "Harnessing Globalization", part of which is devoted to trade. For the first time, it recognizes some of the negative effects of globalization - the increase in inequalities, in particular - but, once again, it remains too timid on proposals to address them. Yet, if there is a matter on which the Commission should revisit its approach, it is indeed its trade policy. For years and even more since the arrival of Trump and his strategy of balance of power, more and deeper free trade is presented as the only answer. The Commission is speeding up its negotiations with Mexico, Japan, Mercosur and Chile, is starting new agreements with Australia and New Zealand and is preparing to conclude FTAs with Singapore and Vietnam.

We are told to believe that there are only two possible ways forward: the absolute closure of borders (protectionism) or the maximum opening (free trade). Both paths are dangerous because they are destructive of well-being. Globalization is a fact, but the only way to control it is to insert protective rules for citizens. This is indeed the best way to go. The authors of the "Namur Declaration" were right: EU trade policy is condemned unless it radically changes its methods and content. It is not about calling into question the importance of trade for our economies. It is about declaring the failure of generalized free trade as the only answer. It is now time to find a concrete meaning for the concept of "fair trade". We, Socialist MEPs, have been making proposals for a new trade policy in this direction. So far we have not been heard.

The new trade policy we call for requires one key precondition. The need to reconcile trade agreements negotiations with the most basic democratic processes: All negotiating mandates must be made public and debated by the relevant parliamentary assemblies. All the fringes of civil society must be involved in the deliberations. We have to put an end to this situation in which some major groups and their powerful lobbies are, ultimately, the decision-makers.

Yet, such a formal change would not suffice: we must initiate a real revolution in the content of trade agreements, combining new requirements and new objectives. European negotiators must be more intransigent when it comes to respecting our standards and collective preferences. We must assume and spread our social model, demanding an even clearer exclusion of public services from the scope of these treaties, and privileging the so-called "positive lists" system which defines, in a restrictive manner, which activities can be opened to free competition.

Future trade agreements must promote upward convergence and combat all forms of dumping. Binding "sustainable development" chapters with sanction mechanisms must be introduced to prevent the risk of lowering social, environmental or health standards, which have now become the adjustment variables to make exports more competitive or to attract investment.

Europe can no longer leave any doubts about its determination to defend public power in the face of market forces. This is why any private arbitration mechanism is unacceptable. The settlement of trade disputes must be dealt with by the national public courts in the first place. And only a factual and substantiated risk analysis can justify the presence in an agreement of an alternative means of protecting foreign investors, provided that the latter respects the rules of transparency, independence and the principle of sovereignty in the interest of the population. European leaders need to pay more attention to the losers of trade liberalization. This applies in particular to small-scale farmers and livestock farmers, who are being hit hard by the import of competitive products that are disrupting already saturated markets. EU trade policy must encourage the transformation of our agricultural system and its transition from a productivist model, which is excessively export oriented, to local agriculture. To this end, the EU should systematically exclude any concessions on products considered to be the most sensitive, such as beef, poultry, rice, sugar,...

Finally, faced with the challenges of the twenty-first century and the excesses of deregulated globalization, trade policy, far from being merely a mercantilist tool, must be placed at the service of multilateral objectives such as the regulation of international finance, the fight against climate change, or the promotion of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. To this end we call for the introduction of fiscal conditionality clauses making multilateral tax conventions binding and thus preventing tax dumping practices between trade partners. Last but not least, we also call for the inclusion of quantified climate targets.

It is on the basis of respect for these criteria that we will decide when new free trade agreements come to the table of the .

Marie Arena, S&D MEP, Belgium

Emmanuel Maurel, S&D MEP, France

Georgi Pirinsky, S&D MEP, Bulgaria

Jude Kirton Darling, S&D MEP, UK

Agnes Jongerius, S&D MEP, The

Pier Antonio Panzeri, S&D MEP, Italy

Ana Gomes, S&D MEP,

Dietmar Köster, S&D MEP, Germany

Karoline Graswander-Hainz, S&D MEP, Austria