Brussels, 05/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The agenda for the second meeting of European trade ministers under the Latvian Presidency, which is to be held in Brussels on Thursday 7 May, covers the negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP), the reform of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, the post-Bali agenda of the WTO Doha round negotiations, the green goods initiative, and the trade aspects of the Eastern Partnership.
TTIP. The ministers will take stock of the TTIP negotiations and will discuss European Commission proposals for including a reformed ISDS mechanism in the future agreement.
On Thursday, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström will be back from a visit to Washington earlier in the week, where she assessed progress in the negotiations with US Trade Representative Mike Froman (see EUROPE 11307). At the end of a meeting described as “long and productive”, Malmström tweeted on Monday 4 May that there was “good understanding of where we stand on TTIP, and joint willingness to move forward”.
The chief European negotiator, Ignacio Bercero Garcia, 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) had 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 European Council called in March for every effort to be made to conclude a TTIP agreement that is “ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial by the end of the year”. The Latvian Presidency and the Commission have nevertheless recently shown more caution about the timetable, with Malmström saying she hopes for the skeleton of a TTIP agreement in principle to be finalised by the end of the year. While waiting, the European Parliament, which will have to approve the agreement, is expected to adopt its recommendations in June.
In Washington, the political timetable is also influenced by the negotiations for the Transpacific Partnership and by a draft law to grant increased powers to the US president for negotiating and concluding trade agreements as part of an accelerated Fast Track procedure.
ISDS. On Thursday, Malmström will put forward her proposals for reforming the ISDS mechanism, which she will previously have unveiled to the European Parliament's international trade committee on Wednesday 6 May. Malmström unveiled her initial ideas to the European Parliament on 18 March (see EUROPE 11278), then to the trade ministers in Riga on 25 March (see EUROPE 11282).
The Commission's aim is to find a common EU position on this extremely controversial issue in the TTIP negotiations - an issue that is currently on hold. The Commission would like this position to become the EU's position on ISDS for future trade and investment agreements.
The reform proposals tabled by Malmström could include an idea put forward by Germany of creating a permanent court between the EU and US for trade issues, with public bodies and an appeals process to replace the current system, in which special arbitration panels settle disputes on a case by case basis.
Doha round. The Council will discuss preparations for the tenth WTO ministerial conference, which will take place in Nairobi in December. It aims to conclude a political agreement on the Doha round.
Following the Bali mini-agreement concluded in December 2013 and the agreement on implementing the trade facilitation agreement which was found in December 2014, the 160 WTO member countries are due to set out a work programme by 31 July on the main sections of the Doha round - agriculture, industrial products, services and rules - in order to make this political agreement possible. In Geneva, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo spoke on 28 April of important progress in the discussions process on the post-Bali work programme (see EUROPE 11304).
Environmental goods. The Council will take stock of the plurilateral negotiations for an agreement on liberalising trade in environmental goods (green goods initiative).
After a commitment taken by the APEC in 2012 to reduce customs duties on 54 environmental goods, the EU and 13 other WTO countries (Australia, Canada, China, Cost Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and the US) launched this initiative in July 2014. The negotiations focus first on goods, but the objective is to create a “living agreement”, which should evolve according to future needs, and in the long term, to tackle other obstacles to trade in environmental goods and services (such as non-tariff barriers, local content requirements and investment restrictions).
A list of product nominations covering ten categories of environmental goods has been developed over the first five negotiation rounds. On 1 April, the EU presented its complete list of product nominations. All the product nominations were compiled in April. The objective of the sixth round of negotiations, which is being held in Geneva on 4-8 May, is to finalise the list of environmental goods that will be included in the agreement.
There are currently around 40 WTO members that have chosen to take part in the talks. However, once a critical mass of country members is reached for obtaining an agreement, the advantages of this plurilateral initiative will be applied to all WTO members according to the most favoured nation principle. Ideally, the agreement will be part of the package of WTO agreements so that other members of the organisation might open up their own markets.
Eastern Partnership. Over lunch, the EU trade ministers will discuss trade aspects of the Eastern Partnership. After the Council, the European ministers will meet their counterparts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine for the very first meeting of Eastern Partnership trade ministers - ahead of the Riga summit on 21-22 May.
The Commission will also inform the Council of the latest developments in the trilateral negotiations between the EU, Russia and Ukraine in order to take account of Russia's wish-list concerning implementation of the free trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine.
As part of the trilateral compromise found at ministerial level on 12 September 2004 (see EUROPE 11155), the Commission agreed to postpone the provisional implementation of the agreement until 1 January so as to respond to Russia's concerns. At the end of two days of technical level consultations on 21 April, the Commission reiterated that it was ready to respond to the Russian concerns within the limits of flexibility allowed by the agreement (see EUROPE 11299). According to several sources, Russia could ask for the postponement to be extended until 1 January 2017, in order to prolong the discussions.
Canada. Greece will raise the issue of the non-registration of feta cheese among the protected geographical indications in the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) with Canada concluded at the end of 2014.
Burma/Myanmar. The Council is expected to approve without debate the EU's accession to a plurilateral initiative aiming to promote basic labour rights in Burma/Myanmar. The Commission adopted a decision on this on 26 March. The initiative was launched by Burma/Myanmar, the US, Japan, Denmark and the ILO in November 2014. (Emmanuel Hagry)