Statements by Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), Elżbieta BIEŃKOWSKA, Member of the EC in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Victor BOŞTINARU (S&amp;D, RO), Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL), Javier COUSO PERMUY (GUE/NGL, ES), Klaus BUCHNER (Greens/EFA, DE) and Pavel TELIČKA (ALDE, CZ) during the debate of the 22/06&nbsp;on US sanctions impacting EU business in Iran, during the EP plenary session&nbsp;(22 - 23 June 2016) in Brussels.

Brussels

debate

plenary session

EU - USA (T)

EU - Iran (T)

LANGE, Bernd (S&D, DE)

BIEŃKOWSKA, Elżbieta (PL, EC)

COUSO PERMUY, Javier (GUE/NGL, ES)

TELIČKA, Pavel (ALDE, CZ)

BOŞTINARU, Victor (S&D, RO)

SCHAAKE, Marietje (ALDE, NL)

BUCHNER, Klaus (Greens/EFA, DE)

US sanctions impacting EU business in Iran: extracts from the debate of the 22/06

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), There is a problem never the less that many of the US sanctions were agreed before the discussions led to this agreement, back in 1979, those sanctions have not yet been lifted. And to some extend there is to some extend and extraterritorial effect on European companies and therefore it is only normal to investigate the question how European companies can manage.

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), Basically this would apply to financial resources; this cannot be that the banking sector or European companies are excluded from reasonable financing from their projects.

SOUNDBITE (English), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Member of the EC in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, There are still challenges we need to overcome, the financial and banking issues we are experiencing should not be undervalued, but they should be put into perspective.

SOUNDBITE (English), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Member of the EC in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, It is important that Iran takes the necessary steps on the regulatory framework and business environment; companies are concerned about these issues, in particular on anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism and of course more needs to be done.

SOUNDBITE (English), Victor BO&#350;TINARU (S&amp;D, RO), It still remains important for it to be implemented thoroughly and in a good faith by all partners and all sides as soon as possible. We should not forget that this deal is going beyond its technical details and it has been celebrated by the Iranian people after it has been concluded with the hope that this will improve their living standards.

SOUNDBITE (English), Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL), As result of the extraterritorial impact an estimated half of interested companies is holding back, the need of financing, transporting products to Iran can lead to a chain reaction when banks lack the trust that there services even when fully legal in Europe won't be punished by the U.S. Not only Billion dollar fines but also new visa requirements hinder access and trust for accessing the U.S. after doing business with Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Javier COUSO PERMUY (GUE/NGL, ES), Many companies which are also active in the U.S. fear that they will be violating U.S. sanctions and need at this particular point protection from Europe, where is Europe actually?

SOUNDBITE (German), Klaus BUCHNER (Greens/EFA, DE), The Iranian economy needs sanctions to be lifted improve things, because there is unemployment, people are living there well below decent standards of living and that will only be possible with trade.

SOUNDBITE (German), Klaus BUCHNER (Greens/EFA, DE), I think also to counter this trend towards terrorisms and to put a stop to more radical movements we have to do something now to improve the standard of living in the country. There is no choice remaining except for economic cooperation being stepped up, lifting the sanctions, the US may have had historical reasons in the past for them, however I don't think that is acceptable if German or European companies suffer from a US sanctions, that is in contradiction with the Sovereignty of the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Pavel TELI&#268;KA (ALDE, CZ), You have said that there is a progress on getting clarity, on guidelines, that there is effort on the U.S. side and I'm sure that this is the cases, but the fact is that we do have cases which have concrete implications. I'm not coming from a country where AIRBUS would have its production, but I would say there is one really flagrant case and that is ARIBUS versus BOEING. Boeing which clearly started negotiations much later with Iran has signed a deal, I think it was last week, where Airbus is waiting now 5 months for the US Treasury clearance and that is unacceptable, so we don't just need to hear what efforts are in place but we really need results and tell us how we can assist you.