Brussels, 04/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - As EUROPE went to press on Monday 4 May, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström was meeting US Trade Representative Mike Froman - for the third time since the start of the year, and for the second time in Washington - in order to assess progress in the negotiations for a transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) between the EU and US.
“I'm here in Washington for meetings with Ambassador Froman on TTIP. We are assessing where we stand and making sure our negotiators are on track”, Malmström stated when introducing her speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Statesman's Forum. “Why? Because we both take this negotiation very seriously. And we take it seriously because it's so economically important and so strategically important for Europe and the United States”, she said.
During her two-day visit to the US capital, Malmström is also due to meet the US ambassador to the WTO, Michael Punke, other members of the US administration and representatives from Congress.
The chief European negotiator Ignacio Bercero Garcia had said at the end of their work that the last session of technical level talks (the ninth session, on 20-24 April in New York) enabled new progress towards a political level stocktaking in the autumn (see EUROPE 11302). A tenth round is planned in July - in Brussels before the summer holiday.
The two parties are trying to make as much progress as possible on the regulatory cooperation pillar - including the horizontal aspects (technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and regulatory coherence) and the sectoral aspects (regulatory convergence in nine key sectors) - and on the rules pillar ahead of the political assessment planned after the summer.
“A significant step forward” was made on the rules pillar (on the energy and raw materials issue) at the ninth session. Indeed, the parties examined how TTIP could guarantee non-discriminatory and transparent access for third parties to the energy transport infrastructure (gas pipelines and electricity grids). They also examined how to increase regulatory cooperation on energy efficiency. No conclusion has yet been reached, however, on whether these issues will be the subject of a specific chapter - as the European party would like.
Still as regards the rules pillar, the EU is to put forward a text proposal before the summer on issues relating to sustainable development (work and environment).
As regards the market access pillar, the negotiators continued their discussions at the end of April aiming to ensure the best possible understanding of the respective tariff offers. As regards services, the negotiators are working on an exchange of revised offers by the next round in July.
Elsewhere, as part of its continued effort for greater transparency, the Commission on Monday made public its text proposal on regulatory cooperation - a proposal that was officially submitted to the US party during the ninth round.
Back in Brussels in the middle of this week, Malmström will unveil her proposals for reforming the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism to the European Parliament's international trade committee on Wednesday 6 May, then to the European trade ministers on Thursday 7 May. Malmström unveiled her preliminary ideas in mid-March (see EUROPE 11278). (Emmanuel Hagry)