A plan to free up blocked Chinese textile imports has been approved by the European Union member states. But divisions are increasingly sharp over how future increases of competition from Asian countries will effect Europe.Officials hope to get blocked goods moving out of port warehouses from next week.

The clothing imports began to pile up in July after quota levels agreed in June were reached. The new quotas were an attempt to slow the explosive growth of Chinese textile imports to Europe this year, after a previous quota system expired. The Chinese government has accepted lower export quotas for 2006. That was a key demand of European countries with their own textile industries, like France, Italy and Spain. Countries with strong retail sectors like Germany and the Nordics had lobbied hard to get the goods released.

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