Brussels, 24/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the European trade ministers meeting on 21 November, Italy's minister and acting president of the Council, Carlo Calenda, urged the EU and the US to show “more commitment” in order to boost their free trade (TTIP) negotiations.
There is a window of opportunity for closing the deal in the sense of identifying the landing zone, and defining the content, he said. “We should have much more commitment, both of us, in leading these negotiations. If we are able to get some more commitments from both sides, the deadline is feasible”, Calenda added. “Otherwise (…) the consequences in terms of reputation for both us and the Western world are serious. The TTIP is perceived as an answer to the geopolitical threat. This geopolitical reason today is even more than when we started”, he stated.
The European party suspects the US of giving priority to its negotiations for the trans-Pacific partnership (TPP) with ten countries from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström will visit Washington on 9 December. The eighth round of technical level talks will take place in Brussels in early February 2015. (EH)