Riga, 15/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 April, the analysis by the European Parliament's international trade committee of the 898 amendments to the draft resolution for the Parliament's recommendations on the negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) highlighted four main areas of disagreement between MEPs - the guarantees linked to data protection, the opening up of the services market, protection of the environment, and protection of investments.
“The amendments [that we analysed] show that there are four main areas that currently divide MEPs. These are data protection, the services which could be opened up to US suppliers, environmental sustainability, and the arrangements on protecting investors”, said chair of the international trade committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), during the debate. Lange, who is the rapporteur on TTIP, underlined that much work and many political compromises will be needed to obtain a strong majority for the final resolution, which will be put to the vote in the Parliament's plenary session in June.
This week, 6 of the 14 parliamentary committees that were requested to contribute to the draft text (the committees on the environment, agriculture, culture, legal and constitutional affairs, and petitions) will be giving their opinions (see other article).
The committees on industry, energy and research, the internal market, foreign affairs, and civil liberties (see EUROPE 11281, 11282 and 11287) have already adopted their opinions - between the end of March and early April.
The timetable on the Parliament's resolution on TTIP has also been amended. The vote in the international trade committee, which is responsible for the substance, has now been postponed until 28 May.
The ninth round of negotiations is being held in New York on 20-24 April. (Emmanuel Hagry)