EU Hopes to Conclude Trade Pact With US Next Year

It was initially meant to be finalised this year, but now EU negotiators aim rather to conclude the trade pact with the United States in 2016, which would be “an optimistic scenario”, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Tuesday.

If agreed, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would encompass a third of world trade and be the biggest such agreement.

“We will do everything we can to try to finalize during 2016. That’s the optimistic scenario we’re working on, but it’s possible,” she told reporters.

Following on from a tenth round of talks in July, Malmstrom said she would meet U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Washington in September to prepare for more talks in October and also in December.

The European Parliament last month effectively gave Malmstrom a mandate to continue negotiations when it backed a compromise on setting up a new European court to settle any disputes arising from any trade pact.

Some of Europe’s many opponents to a trade deal with the United States see it as a threat to EU law and anticipate legal attacks by multinationals, especially on EU environment and food rules.

Malmstrom said the aim was to set up a new procedure for dispute resolution.

“We’re going away from private courts, moving away to pre-designed, pre-selected judges, having more transparency, having a system of appeal,” she said.

Negotiations on TTIP and a similar agreement with Canada (CETA) have not been transparent for the last two years. 483 civic organizations and 2,3 million signatures were submitted on Sunday, in a campaign to stop the negotiations.

Trade unions are concerned that TTIP will lower expectations on working safety and working conditions. The Stop TTIP campaign argues the deal threatens democracy and rule of law because it undermines several legal principles that ensure accountability and infringe upon the legislative mandate. Specifically, it is feared that TTIP would obstruct the national legislative process, delay legislation, or cause the EU to relinquish the precautionary principle.

(with AP, Reuters)