Brussels, 29/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - Next week, Commissioner Karel De Gucht will be in Washington to finalise recommendations with a view to EU-US free trade negotiations.
De Gucht will be in Washington DC on 5 February to put the finishing touches to preparatory work conducted since 2011 ahead of free trade talks between the EU and the United States. Prepared by a group of experts co-chaired by the commissioner for trade and his American counterpart, Ron Kirk, the final report on recommendations is “essentially … ready”, De Gucht assured this weekend speaking from Santiago. “I will go to Washington to discuss a couple of small items and for a final reading. But essentially, we're on the same page”, he said.
Nonetheless, De Gucht does expect “these will be difficult negotiations”. The interim report presented in June 2012 clearly sets out the scope of talks, which will include tariff liberalisation for goods, liberalisation of the trade in services, access to public procurement, regulatory convergence, as well as competition rules, the environment and intellectual property. As customs tariffs between the two economies are already low, most of the issues at stake relate to regulatory matters.
Europeans and Americans, who are seeking sources of growth in order to exit the crisis, do not wish to embark on unending negotiations. However, there is now a window of opportunity open for negotiating an agreement, De Gucht said. In an interview with Reuters, he asserted that, for preparing the final report, “we will have a common recommendation. If we were of the opinion that it was not worth trying, we wouldn't have put in this much time”. (EH/transl.jl)