The outgoing cabinet nominates The Hague as a potential location for the European Union Customs Authority, which will probably be established next year. Eugène Heijnen, outgoing State Secretary for Finance (BBB), reported this on Thursday a letter to Parliamenton the last day that member states could nominate a city as a candidate. The Customs Authority provides prestige and 250 jobs.
The European authority must be given a key role in customs supervision and focus on cross-border goods traffic and the fight against crime. 250 jobs will be created. The idea is that the central service will improve cooperation between customs services of member states. Ultimately, enforcement at all European external borders must take place ‘evenly and efficiently’.
New, European-wide asylum rules will come into effect from next June. The aim: stricter controls at the external borders and faster asylum procedures. It is also becoming more complicated for rejected asylum seekers to travel to the next EU country and submit a new application. Organizations such as the Council for Refugees were more likely to speak out critical about the Pact. The border countries would not be able to handle the requests, with the possible consequence that refugees would be prevented from reaching the land border.
Twenty tons of cocaine
Because The Hague is known as the “international city of peace and justice”, the government chose the Hofstad. The fact that organizations such as Europol and NATO are also located in The Hague also benefits the city, says the State Secretary. In addition, Customs Authority employees can be housed “suitably”, they can send their children to international schools and they can easily reach Rotterdam, Brussels or Schiphol, the minister said. Moreover, a third of all goods enter the EU via Schiphol or the port of Rotterdam, the letter to Parliament states.
The government has its eye on the former Yugoslavia Tribunal building on Churchill Square. The building will have to be adapted when the Customs Authority settles in The Hague, but the present “cultural-historical elements” will “weigh heavily”, the State Secretary promises, so that the history of the tribunal remains part of the building.
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The Hague’s competitors include Rome, Porto, Warsaw, Málaga and Lille. The French said they demonstrated last year that their customs play a “major role” in Europe. For example, more than 40 billion euros of bad money was collected, more than 20 tons of cocaine was intercepted and counterfeit goods worth approximately 21 million were taken out of the market, Paris boasts. The French government also recommends Lille as the heart of the Paris, London, Brussels triangle. And “just a little further” from the northern French city are Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Cologne.
School trip
News site Politico wrote two weeks ago that no candidate started the campaign as early and fanatically as Lille. The northern French city led many European representatives (including non-French) past the proposed building for the Customs Authority, the old town, and the European school, to convince them that Lille would be the best choice. According to the digital newspaper, the trip felt like a “school trip”. According to the newspaper, one attendee described a lunch with local delicacies as “the toughest of my life.”
According to Politico France can particularly benefit from its approach to Chinese counterfeit goods. The Macron government recently entered into battle with the Chinese clothing brand Shein, which is both praised and criticized for its cheap items that sell out quickly. Research previously showed that the Singapore-based company emits a lot of CO2 and sometimes puts employees to work 75 hours a week.
Shein also unpopular with the French government by selling sex dolls resembling young girls, brass knuckles and knives online. The French initiated a suspension procedure, but withdrew it on November 7. Shein had since removed the questionable merchandise.
Ultimately, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will determine in which city the Customs Authority will settle. The results are expected at the end of the first quarter of next year.
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