Dublin, 18/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers is allowing itself two months in which to amend the Commission's draft mandate, with a view to negotiating an agreement with the United States in July.
Speaking after the informal meeting of European trade ministers in Dublin on Thursday 18 April, Richard Bruton said he was confident that Commissioner Karel De Gucht would be given a “balanced” negotiating mandate by the Council mid June. Broad consensus among the EU27 has emerged from the debates to which, quite exceptionally, a representative of the US government was invited. That representative was Mike Froman, President Obama's deputy adviser for national security on economic matters, the Irish business minister told the press. Naturally, the final decision will be taken by unanimity during a formal meeting of the trade ministers on 14 June. Also, the draft mandate will be improved downstream by member states' experts within the Council committee dedicated to trade talks. “We need not to be naïve”, Bruton stressed when asked by EUROPE about the reticence expressed by France. He went on to add that they will seek to wrap up a broad-based balanced mandate. In other words, Dublin promises to take into account the concerns of the most anxious capitals, such as Paris.
The day before, in Strasbourg, and then in Dublin on Thursday, the French minister, Nicole Bricq, expressed the hope that negotiations with the United States would not be too hastily conducted, the cultural exception remaining in her eyes an indispensable condition. France, she pointed out, is doing what it can so that the opening of the audiovisual sector is excluded from the mandate. Bricq also stated her concern about the imbalance between the Commission's limited negotiation means compared to those of the US administration. She believes that any imbalance would be to Europe's disadvantage in discussions on normative aspects.
If the mandate is ready in June, De Gucht believes “it should be possible to conclude with the US before the end of the EC mandate”, end 2014, a period that corresponds to the mid-term elections in the United States. However, he warns, a rapid agreement must not be to the detriment of its content. “We shall not reduce the level of ambition of an agreement”, he vowed. (EH/transl.jl)