Brussels, 18/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament agriculture committee's draft opinion (for the international trade committee) on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which will be discussed on Tuesday 24 February, states that “respect for food safety and human and animal health standards” will be a fundamental tenet of the negotiations for European agriculture.
The committee's draft opinion, prepared by Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) and James Nicholson (ECR, UK) calls on the Commission to: - prioritise an ambitious and balanced result of the negotiations for agriculture, the three main components of which (market access, geographical indications and sanitary and phytosanitary measures) should be tackled early and in parallel in the negotiation process, “in order to give Parliament enough time to discuss and evaluate this chapter with stakeholders and European citizens”; - to firmly commit to the strict preservation of standards on food safety and human and animal health, as defined under EU legislation, and ensure that fundamental values of the EU such as the precautionary principle are not undermined; - to ensure a positive final outcome of the negotiations for agriculture reflecting both the offensive and defensive interests of the EU agricultural sector concerning the abolition or reduction of both tariff and non-tariff barriers, including in particular sanitary and phytosanitary standards and procedures, “so that EU producers make genuine gains in terms of access to the US market”; - to secure a level playing field, treating as sensitive those products for which direct competition would expose EU agricultural producers to excessive pressure, for example in cases where regulatory conditions and related costs of production in the EU diverge from those in the US; - to secure significantly improved protection of EU geographical indications and better consumer information as an essential element of a balanced agreement.
Lastly, the draft opinion calls on the Commission to engage in a fully transparent, timely and comprehensive manner with all agricultural stakeholders on all aspects of the negotiations. (Lionel Changeur)