The European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, has turned down the French government's request to monitor the number of South Korean cars that are imported into the European Union. Â
The Commission has also concluded that South Korean car companies are not illegally dumping cars on the European market, an allegation that was made two months ago by Arnaud Montebourg, France's Minister for Industrial Recovery.
Karel de Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade, acknowledged in an interview with France's Le Figaro magazine that sales of South Korean cars and SUVs in Europe have gone up by 41 percent from July of 2011 to June of 2012 but he was quick to point out that the increase is largely concentrated outside of France, where sales have only jumped by 24 percent.
Furthermore, a lot of South Korean cars are built in European factories so they are not covered by the free trade agreement that the European Union signed with South Korea last year.
"Arnaud Montebourg is against globalization, he is a protectionist, and that's his choice. Â Be that as it may, his reasoning is flawed," said de Gucht to explain the European Commission's decision.
Montebourg's office promised that the Minister will stick to his position and is open to further debate.
