Kassandra learns that beyond the regular
progress of meetings, there were numerous secret meetings at the
European Commission, European Parliament, and the national level this
week for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership after the
12th round of negotiations were extended.
In documents seen by New Europe from
within the European Parliament, the current state of play of
negotiations is summarised. We bring the most critical elements below
(some have been declared through press releases already:
• One third of the chapters of TTIP are considered consolidated – this
means the texts have been accepted by both parties even if they are
still not closed.
• During these negotiations, important progress on the pharmaceutical chapter and car security was made.
• On the other hand, on regulatory cooperation and investments, there was a first exchange of views.
• The US side, still haven’t reacted to the proposal for the
international court system, which is the successor of the ISDS
(Investor-state dispute settlement).
• The US side absolutely want to conclude the agreement
during the Obama administration, but its likely that they prefer to
conclude the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) first.. This is because the
TTIP will give more concessions to the EU than the TPP will give to the
US’ pacific partners. Concluding and publicizing the TTIP ahead of the
TPP would thus weaken the negotiating position of the US.
• The EU is seeking for the abolition of the Jonas act. This is federal
legislation that protects American workers injured at sea. Also referred
to as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, this law allows qualifying
sailors who have been involved in accidents or become sick while
performing their duties to recover compensation from their employers.
The EU also wants the abolition of other protectionist initiatives such
as ‘buy American’.
• The US let the EU know, they could integrate the European
precautionary principle in the SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Sector)
chapter, because this is already part of their risk assessment.
• The US has some reserves on the EU’s proposal on financial services.
• It seems that negotiations still haven’t crossed the sticking point of
tariffs on car imports. This is of course problematic for both Germany
and Italy.
• No progress was made on protection of origin of European products.
• Finally, there is a strong desire to speed up the negotiation in the next two rounds of April and July.
http://neurope.eu/article/getting-ttiping-point/