Brussels, 17/03/2015 (Agence Europe) -EU-United States free-trade negotiations (TTIP) will be at the heart of the discussions when Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner and Austrian Agriculture Minister Andrae Rupprechter meet Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in Brussels on Thursday 19 March.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Agriculture Council of 16 March, Rupprechter indicated that the issues for discussion would include the highly controversial matters of investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Rupprechter is also reported by the Austrian agency APA to have been critical of how the previous Commission, headed by José-Manuel Barroso, handled the TTIP talks, suggesting that it had made “many errors” in the negotiations.
The TTIP is very unpopular in Austria where, according to a recent study, only 9% of the population backs a trans-Atlantic trade agreement. (Emmanuel Hagry)