'EU enlargement great opportunity for India'

The expansion of the European Union (EU) would be a challenge as well an opportunity for countries like India, experts said here yesterday.

"The induction of 10 east European nations -- Cyprus, Czech republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovek Republic and Slovenia, will create more jobs, increase export capabilities, help combat terrorism and drug trafficking," Francisco Gomes, ambassador of the European Commission delegation, said at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meeting.

EU enlargement would mean larger market for emerging economies as the combined size of the market would be around 9712 billion euros, he said.

The average weighted industrial tariffs of the 10 countries are higher than the 3.6 per cent average for EU. The new members will have to adopt the Community Common Customs Tariff (CCCT) upon accession which will bring down the tariff helping the third countries, Gomes said.

In case of services, he said, 'third countries' service providers will benefit from the implementation of the single market in acceding countries, where they will get the same treatment as in the rest of the EU.

He added that third countries will receive enhanced levels of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in the acceding countries as they adopt the EU directives. But some experts also expressed apprehension that the new member states may bring more protectionism in agriculture sector in Europe.

"Enlargement may lead to protectionism in agriculture as the agri-tariff levels in these countries are lower that EU. Also, with the extension of common agricultural policy, the tendency to produce more could create some problems," Bhaswati Mukherji, joint secretary (Europe), external affairs ministry said.

But, she added that tariff could come down in the areas of machinery and other items as EU also had them pegged at lower levels. She stressed that there were scope for cooperation in knowledge industries, information and communication technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and auto ancillaries.

She added that with enlargement there will be single set of trade rules, single tariff and single set of administrative procedures which is expected to simplify the dealings for both the member countries and third countries.