Brussels, 19/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The negotiations for a transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) must now tackle more difficult issues. Brussels and Washington want to move up a level by autumn.
While they have made “steady progress” since they started in July 2013, the EU and US negotiators “now need to step up a gear” in order to really make progress in the process of talks for a “ambitious and balanced” TTIP agreement, said European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht at the end of a political stocktaking meeting, in Washington on 17-18 February, with his US counterpart, Michael Froman. De Gucht also said he believed that their two days of meetings “will have helped to pave the way for further important trade discussions” at the bilateral EU-US summit on 26 March, which will enable the EU leaders - European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso - to assess progress on the negotiations with US President Barack Obama. A fourth round of negotiations is scheduled for the week of 10 March.
De Gucht and Froman “explored ways to remove unnecessary trade barriers between the EU and the US markets without lowering the protection of people's health, safety, rights at work, privacy and financial security, and the environment”, said the European Commission on 18 February. “In many cases the norms and standards applied on both markets, for example to approve a car as 'safe', differ but deliver similarly high levels of protection. Bringing those rules closer could cut the costs EU firms face when exporting to the US by up to 25% - without weakening the safety rules in any way”, the Commission added.
Underling once more that the regulatory part of the TTIP agreement “would probably be the toughest nut to crack” - a part on which he already sees progress, however, and which will need closer coordination between the regulatory authorities - De Gucht again promised that the EU would not trade off its stricter standards, particularly on agri-food. “Let me be very clear again: we do not even discuss hormone beef in TTIP and we will NOT at any point in our discussions. Why? Because hormone beef is prohibited in Europe, and we do not intend to change this. And our American partners know this very well”, De Gucht stated. The same goes for GMOs - an area in which EU legislation will most definitely prevail. “No standard in Europe will be lowered because of this trade deal - not on food, not on the environment, not on social protection, not on data protection. I will make sure that TTIP does not become a 'dumping' agreement”, he repeated.
As well as regulatory convergence, De Gucht expects “ambitious proposals” in order to open up their respective markets further. These proposals include a “substantive” reduction of duties and tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods, preparation for a first exchange of offers in services, improved access to US public procurement for EU firms, as well as more transparent rules for US public procurement. De Gucht also underlines the need to make progress on the rules both for the respect for social rights and environmental protection (sustainable development), and also on the rules as regards the import of energy and raw materials into the EU, and on the rule for the protection of EU geographical indications.
Lastly, De Gucht and Froman discussed “new ways” of hearing from the widest possible range of interests, to make sure negotiators take their views fully taken into account in the TTIP negotiations. The two men agreed to include in the deal measures specially designed to ensure SMEs benefit just as much as larger companies from the TTIP agreement - a chapter on which the EU and US have already registered “good progress”, according to De Gucht. De Gucht and Froman gave the negotiators guidance on taking the talks forward over the coming months and the two leaders will review progress on these talks again in the autumn. (EH/transl.fl)