Brussels, 24/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its opinion on the European Parliament's recommendations on the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and US (TTIP), which was adopted on Tuesday 24 March, the Parliament's ITRE (industry, research and energy) committee calls for the future TTIP agreement to be drawn up so as to help EU companies that tender for public contracts in the US and so that it provides for a period of maintaining customs duties for the steel, chemicals and raw materials industries.
“TTIP is a great opportunity for Europeans, for the EU's industry and business - especially SMEs. In our opinion, we highlight what should be taken into account in the negotiations to maximise this opportunity”, said rapporteur Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland), who chairs the ITRE committee.
Underlining that public procurement in the US remains “extremely closed” to foreign companies, the ITRE committee calls on the European Commission to work for reciprocity and more active participation of EU businesses in US public procurement at all levels of government, while ensuring that this does not undermine the capacity of EU governments to maintain their public services.
The ITRE committee also insists on balanced efforts on tariff elimination and regulatory harmonisation. The MEPs call for the competitive position of the EU's energy-intensive industries to be safeguarded by providing adequate transition periods on the elimination of tariffs in these sectors after TTIP enters into force. “It is important given the huge differences in gas prices as well as per capita CO2 emissions which exist between the EU and USA”, Buzek stated.
In addition, the ITRE committee calls for TTIP to contain a specific chapter on energy, including industrial raw materials with clear guarantees that the EU's environmental standards and climate action goals are not undermined.
The ITRE committee also asks the Commission to ensure that SMEs are fully taken into account - by means of impacts assessments, public consultations and involvement of European SME representatives, and including a specific charter to SMEs providing for the reduction of red tape.
ITRE MEPs also ask the Commission to address the issue of the Buy American Act and the Jones Act, and demands for local content, which in practice put a considerable brake on EU companies accessing the US market - especially in the dredging and engineering sector.
Under the leadership of the international trade committee, 15 parliamentary committees are involved working on Parliament recommendations on the TTIP negotiations. The vote on Bernd Lange's report (S&D, Germany) is planned for 7 May in the international trade committee, and the vote in plenary will take place two weeks later. (Emmanuel Hagry)