Brussels, 19/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The possible negative repercussions of the future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement on the EU's developing country partners should not be ignored, according to MEP experts on development questions. They will be at the heart of the concerns expressed by the EP development committee on Monday 23 February in Brussels. The committee is anxious that the EU ensures a sufficient level of coherence between its policies and guarantees that developing countries do not have to pay the price for the free trade agreement, which is likely to encroach on them.
The exchange of views will be underpinned by the draft text drafted by Arne Lietz (S&D, Germany), the own opinion rapporteur, for preparing recommendations to the European Commission on the on-going negotiations with the US. The trade committee is responsible for the overall question and will be called on to express its concerns to its colleagues, when the latter have given their views.
Coherency imperative. The draft opinion points out that the principle of coherence in EU policies to the benefit of development and co-signed in the Lisbon Treaty (Article 208) makes it incumbent on the EU to take into consideration development cooperation objectives in the application of policies that are likely to affect developing countries.
Demand for clarity. The draft opinion considers that the formulation of the negotiating mandate is too general to allow for the repercussions of the TTIP to be appropriately taken into consideration on developing countries. It calls for a thoroughgoing analysis of the possible impact of this future agreement on low-income countries and the future sustainable development objectives, as soon as the TTIP provisions are clearer.
Reduced market access risk. In the knowledge that the majority of developing countries currently benefit from tariff preferences from the EU and the US for access for their products and services, the rapporteur already sees “the potential serious risk of reduced market access and the consecutive diversion of trade flows affecting certain countries”.
Completing the Doha Round. The rapporteur is concerned by the idea of the TTIP and other large-scale trade agreements transforming multilateral trade rules and establishing new standards, whilst creating discrimination, insofar as around 130 countries are excluded from the negotiations and certain important questions for developing countries, such as food safety, agricultural subsidies and reducing climate change, are in danger of being marginalised. On this basis, the rapporteur calls on her colleagues to demand that the Commission steps up its efforts to promote the conclusion of the Doha Round at the WTO, which has currently stalled.
Potential benefits. To appropriately take these concerns into account, the draft opinion recognises that the TTIP provides a number of opportunities that need to be taken advantage of in order to promote the highest standards of decent work, environmental protection, food and product safety. (Aminata Niang)