Brussels, 09/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - During their first formal meeting, in Washington on Monday 8 December, new European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström and US Trade Representative Mike Froman affirmed their commitment to giving a fresh start to the TTIP negotiations for a “comprehensive, ambitious and high standard” free trade agreement. They took as their basis the statement made by the EU and US leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane in mid-November.
Malmström and Froman assessed the state of progress in all the negotiation areas and agreed on a number of practical measures to prepare the next round of technical level talks, which will take place in Brussels during the week of 2 February 2015.
“We had a very useful discussion, taking stock of where we are in the negotiations and pointing out the way forward. Ambassador Froman and myself are both personally involved in giving these negotiations the necessary political push”, Malmström stated. “The two of us are very much committed to staying actively involved through regular stock-taking exercises throughout the negotiations”, Froman said.
Malmström and Froman also discussed the importance of transparency in the TTIP negotiations and agreed to engage with stakeholders “in order to listen, explain and also de-mystify elements of this potentially very important agreement”, Malmström said. “TTIP is important not only because of what it can bring in terms of jobs and growth on both sides of the Atlantic, but also because of the possibility for us to set global standards”, she added.
The two sides also reaffirmed that the TTIP will not be an agreement with low standards. “What matters is where we end up at the end of the day - that it's something good for both of our peoples (…); that it shows how we can work together to develop strong regulatory and standards coherence without lowering the level of health, safety and environmental protection our people have come to expect; that shows that government can regulate in the public interest or to provide public services”, Froman stated.
In answer to the press, Malmström also said that the results of the European public consultation on the chapter on investment protection and the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism would be made known “shortly after Christmas”, and that they will be “included in a dialogue process that will continue in the spring”.
BusinessEurope wants a political agreement by the end of 2015. European business, represented by BusinessEurope, is calling for an ambitious timetable with several rounds of negotiations in 2015 so that much progress can be made towards a political agreement before the end of next year. BusinessEurope expects strong political engagement in order to find compromise solutions to crucial issues such as regulatory cooperation, public procurement, energy and SMEs. (EH)