Brussels, 25/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - As part of a broad initiative on transparency led by European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, the Commission agreed on actions on Tuesday 25 November to increase the transparency of negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP).
“TTIP raises enormous interest within the European Parliament and from civil society. Although this is a transparent negotiation compared with previous trade negotiations, it is true that we can move forward. There are some misunderstandings and myths. And we want to show what the true nature of the benefits expected from TTIP is, and that many fears are unfounded”, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström told press in Strasbourg on Tuesday. “This is a new start to ensure a dialogue based on facts”, she added.
In order to increase the transparency of the TTIP negotiations, the Commission proposes four actions to: - make public more EU negotiating texts that the Commission already shares with the member states and the European Parliament; - provide access to TTIP texts for all MEPs (not just a select few from the Parliament's international trade (INTA) committee) by extending the use of a reading room to those MEPs who have not thus far had access to restricted documents; - classify fewer TTIP negotiating documents as “EU restricted”, making them more easily accessible to MEPs outside the reading room; - publish and update on a regular basis a public list of TTIP documents that are shared with the European Parliament and Council.
Malmström will put her proposals to the Parliament during her first exchange of views with the INTA committee on 3 December. The objective will be to implement these measures before the end of 2014.
Principles to be translated into action, insists Bernd Lange. “The principles adopted should give both European citizens and the European Parliament a greater ability to shape the future TTIP, paving the way for it to work in everybody's interest. Of course, principles alone are not sufficient; these words must lead to action”, said Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), chair of the INTA committee. “By granting MEPs and the EU's public more access to TTIP-documents, which have so far been highly restricted, the EU Commission enabled people to discuss in an open debate what kind of partnership with the US they want”, Lange continued, believing that this move is “significant” for how trade deals will be negotiated and concluded in the future. Lange also said that the Parliament's “green light for the TTIP at the end of talks will depend on whether the EU-Commission will actually take on board the demands of MEPs and the public, voiced throughout the negotiation process”. “We will continue to monitor closely whether the new transparency initiatives translate into a more democratic negotiation process”, he said.
Ombudsman's report in 2015. European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly also welcomed the Commission's initiative. Last July, the Ombudsman opened an investigation responding to concerns about key documents that were not published, and responding to concerns about delays and the presumed granting of privileged access to TTIP documents to certain stakeholders. O'Reilly asked the Commission to give the public access to important TTIP documents in good time, as well as access to details of meetings with stakeholders. “I am delighted that the Commission has taken the concerns of citizens, civil society organisations, MEPs and my own office on board to increase TTIP transparency. The negotiations have attracted unprecedented public interest, given the potential impact the deal will have on the lives of citizens”, she said, having received over 6,000 e-mails in response to her public consultation on transparency in the TTIP negotiations. O'Reilly has announced a report for January 2015 on these contributions and on concrete measures to improve TTIP transparency and public participation further.
Not enough for the Greens. For the Parliament's Greens/EFA Group, “this first step will still not enable European citizens to know what is being negotiated”. “Giving MEPs wider access to restricted documents, like publishing a certain number of documents, of course improves the current arrangements. But at this stage, Malmström does not envisage any move forward on European citizens' access to negotiating documents that remain available only in very controlled reading rooms. This arrangement, imposed by the US administration, is a denial of democracy - when TTIP is crucially about the choices of society that directly concern citizens on health, the environment, private life, public services, consumer protection and worker protection”, says Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, France) on behalf of the Greens Group (our translation). (EH)