At first glance, it would appear Petr Kubát, president of the Czech Footwear Association, has every reason in the world to start celebrating.

After two years of intense lobbying, his association has finally convinced the European Commission (EC) to impose duties on inexpensive shoes from China and Vietnam that it says are decimating the Czech shoe industry. The duties should make these goods more expensive in Europe, which the EC is hoping will act as a disincentive for people to buy them.

Still, Kubát is worried. He says the EC's initiative isn't enough, and that the European Union's focus on promoting a liberalized, open market is threatening his and other industries throughout Europe.

"Our industry is being virtually buried by illegal Chinese imports, and neither the EU nor the [Czech] government are willing to protect us," Kubát said. "If only duties, and not import quotas, are introduced, shoemaking in this country and in the EU will die out."

Political pressure

Starting April 7, shoe imports from China and Vietnam will be subject to a 4 percent import duty. That figure will rise in October to 16.8 percent for Vietnamese imports and 19.4 percent for Chinese imports, the EC decided March 22.

European Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the duties will protect the European shoemaking industry from dumping by Asian exporters that sell shoes at prices below market value in Europe. They can do this because labor costs in China and Vietnam are extremely low and manufacturers in these countries often receive controversial government support that allows them to cut other costs.

As a result, the shoes that are flooding European markets cost as little as one-tenth of the price tag for other brands on the shelf.

And flooding they are.

According to statistics provided by the EC, imports of leather shoes from China to the EU increased 320 percent to 950 million pairs last year. Vietnamese imports rose 700 percent to 120 million pairs of shoes in the same period.

Zuzana Roithová, a member of the European Parliament who is also a member of a group focusing on Asian imports, said these imports have taken a toll on the European shoemaking industry.

"Over the past two years, over 40,000 people lost their jobs and about 1,000 producers were forced to close down. ... There's a real threat that the industry could collapse," she said.

At the same time, Roithová said the political pressure is too high for the European Parliament to impose stronger measures, most notably quotas that would limit the amount of shoes that can flow from China and Vietnam into Europe.

"There is strong pressure coming from shoe importers, so it looks very unlikely that import quotas could pass through the European Parliament any time soon," she said.

Kubát is fed up with this attitude. He said Brussels lacks the political will to take a strong stand.

"The EU enforced import quotas [on Asian imports] until 2004, but then they removed them in the name of market liberalization," he said. "They ignored our calls for help."

He insisted that import duties aren't enough to protect European shoemakers because they will only apply to legal importers who declare their goods. Illegal imports will fly under the radar and ruin the market. The ramifications for the Czech industry, which is already struggling, could be dire, he said.

"In the early 1990s, there were 35,000 workers in Czech shoemaking companies, and they produced about 70 million pairs of shoes" a year, he said. "Today, the number of shoe workers has shrunk to 3,000, and only 5.5 million pairs of shoes were produced in this country in 2005."

Cry for help

Part of the reason Brussels won't take stronger measures against Asian shoe imports is the fact that it wants to promote a liberal, open EU market in which competition rules and the government stays out of business. But this policy is hurting European industry, which cannot compete with Asian manufacturers on cost.

Indeed, the EC lifted all import barriers on Chinese goods at the beginning of 2005, prompting outcry from the textile industry. In this country, industry officials said the EU didn't consider the damage lifting the barriers would do to their business and complained that the Czech Cabinet blindly followed the EC's directive.

Miroslav Halfar, general manager of Slezan, one of the country's major textile producers, at that time called on Czech politicians to lobby Brussels for protection.

"We only wanted our market to be protected from unfair trade practices such as dumping," Halfar said.

The appeal fell on deaf ears. The government said it would not pursue the textile industry's agenda in Brussels.

"We cannot go against most of Europe," Ivo Mravinac, spokesman for the Industry and Trade Ministry, said then.

The EC renewed some import quotas last May after Chinese textile products flooded European markets.

"But it was only after we suffered major losses," Halfar pointed out.