Brussels, 18/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht, in Washington for the progress meeting with his US counterparts, repeated that security and safety standards would not be traded.
As we went to press, a press conference announcing the results of the two days of work on 17-18 February in Washington, between the Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht and his US counterpart, Mike Froman, was imminent. After the three first rounds of technical negotiations in 2013 and the first exchange of offers at the beginning of February (see EUROPE 11014), De Gucht and Froman were expected to take initial political stock and provide guidelines to negotiators in an effort to reduce the differences in the dossiers that still require a lot of flexibility in talks on a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP): agriculture, in the areas of market access and health and phytosanitary regulation, as well as regulatory convergence in different sectors of the industry, financial services and investment protection. The fourth round of negotiations is scheduled for Brussels in the week of 10-14 March, before an examination takes place by EU leaders, who will be playing host to US President, Barack Obama, on 26 March.
Before his two-day meeting with Froman, Commissioner De Gucht did, however, welcome the “steady progress” that had already been made and, in a statement published on 17 February, stated: “We are starting to identify where the difficulties are, where the opportunities are, and what road forward we should take. We are making steady progress. I would say more steady progress than we normally have in a trade negotiation, which is never easy”. De Gucht also affirmed that “our economies know each other very well…and that is why we also realise, I believe, that we have to make this big step forward and this is a unique opportunity to do so… And with due respect for our health and safety regulations, for our consumer protection, that's not what we are going to negotiate about. What we are trying to do is - within the already very modern framework we enjoy both in the United States and in Europe - work together to make sure that we can continue to play a leading role in world markets about norms and standard setting - not in a 'closed shop' manner, but in an open way. What we are trying to do is make sure that we create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic” through a “balanced and ambitious” agreement, he stated. (EH/transl.fl)