Brussels, 10/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On her first official visit in her new role as Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström tried in Berlin on Monday 10 November to ease the recent tensions between the Commission and the German government over the controversial mechanism for settling disputes between investors and states (ISDS) in the free-trade agreement with Canada (CETA) and in on-going negotiations with the United States (TTIP).
The CETA agreement has been concluded. The process of translating and “legal scrubbing” has begun and, in the context of this scrubbing, minor amendments may be brought without re-opening negotiations, Malmström explained at a press briefing, following her meeting with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel. These adjustments should be enough to dispel German reservations, she hoped. Gabriel repeated that he felt the ISDS provisions were superfluous between developed countries. He said, however, that he was “certain” that “a solution” with the Commission can be found.
Germany is currently facing an action brought by Swedish power company Vattenfall at the International Court of Arbitration following the closure of two power plants in the north of the country (Vattenfall is seeking damages of €5 billion) as part of the German plan to discontinue use of nuclear power and it fears further similar arbitration cases with trade agreements.
Transparency is Malmström's top priority. The trade commissioner also promised that her “first order of business as Commissioner will be to look in detail at how we, from the Commission's side, can increase transparency around the negotiations as much as possible”. “We need to address the concerns that exist around this deal, both big and small. And we need to explain that there is no question of lowering our standards”, she emphasised. (EH)