Brussels, 28 September 2009 -- The European Commission should improve the conditions of the upcoming free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea and ensure a more transparent process for all stakeholders. The FTA will
have a significant impact on jobs and competitiveness in the EU economy and rushing into signing a bad agreement is wrong.

These are the main messages in the open letter to the EU Member States sent today by the European automobile manufacturers’ trade association ACEA.

ACEA has learned that Trade Commissioner Ashton intends to initial the FTA in October despite there being no indication that important, remaining problems have been solved. This afternoon, the Trade Committee of the European Parliament will debate the issue, hearing representatives
of the European Commission and the auto industry.

The European automobile industry, together with other major European manufacturing sectors as well as major trade unions, finds it unacceptable that DG Trade chooses to ignore concerns that will affect many million Europeans.

The articulate questions and requests made repeatedly to DG Trade by several Commissioners and Commission services as well as by numerous Member States, asking to improve the FTA conditions, should be answered and addressed..

The open letter and the background information on the FTA are available
on
http://www.acea.be/index.php/news/news_detail/open_letter_to_eu_member_sta...

For further information, please contact Sigrid de Vries, Director
Communications ACEA +32 2 738 73 45 or sv@acea.be
Please also visit www.acea.be