Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, said yesterday he has set in motion plans to release up to 80 million items of clothing held at Europe's borders.
Fresh from a summer break, Mr Mandelson, who over the past weeks has watched a deal he brokered in June restricting textile imports from China turn increasingly sour, announced the move following days of consultations with national governments and Chinese officials.
"I have. . . set in motion procedures to unblock the goods," he said at a press conference, but refused to give precise details until the plan has been discussed by member states.
Mr Mandelson said China had a "moral and political obligation" to help solve the textiles dispute with Europe, amid fears it could escalate.
He admitted talks between the 25 member states had "so far not produced a mutually satisfactory solution", but said he hoped governments would approve his latest proposals.
The quotas - on 10 categories of clothing from July 12t, 2005 until 2007 - were introduced in an attempt to protect EU manufacturers from low-priced Chinese textiles after a 10-year quota on exports expired in January under WTO rules.
However, Mr Mandelson is likely to have a fight on his hands to broker a deal that is agreeable to both the large textile producing states as well as more free-trade oriented states, such as Sweden and Denmark.
A spokesperson for Euratex, the Brussels-based organisation representing Europe's textile industries, said "we have to find a solution that's fair".
For his part, Mr Mandelson will be hoping to get a quick deal so that the issue does not become even more political and overshadow an EU-China summit next week.
Yesterday an exasperated Mr Mandelson attempted to deflect the blame for the fiasco, which has denied retailers access to clothing ordered for the autumn season. He said he resisted imposing new quotas on Chinese clothes in the first place - a deal he negotiated with Beijing under pressure from France, Italy and other EU textile producers.
"I have never disguised the inherent difficulties in introducing restrictions to trade," he said. "My caution was well known." He said the European Commission, EU members and China should all take their share of the blame for the botched implementation of the deal.
Nevertheless the failure of talks in Beijing and the growing anger of retailers has left Mr Mandelson exposed to criticism.
This week he will urge EU states to unblock all Chinese garments stacked in Europe's customs warehouses, ordered by retailers before the new quotas came into force. "I cannot accept that EU retail businesses should be penalised unfairly by the introduction of the agreement we made in China," he said.
The German government insisted yesterday that textile imports blocked at ports should be released as soon as possible, as many were ordered in good faith before the agreement. German officials indicated that any solution that involved reducing next year's quota for textile imports would not be desirable.
"We haven't seen any proposals yet, but if we can find a solution that is good for our firms then there is a possibility for a truce," said Thomas Stros, minister of industry of Sweden, which along with Denmark was the only EU member that voted against the June 10th agreement.
Poland is standing fast by its coalition partners, such as France, Germany and Spain, which are reluctant to let in the Chinese clothing, said Marcin Kaszuba, Poland's deputy economy minister.
Beijing has rejected EU requests that some blocked goods should be transferred to next year's quota. One Chinese official said that would be like "eating the Year of the Tiger's food in the Year of the Rabbit".
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