Strasbourg, 09/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Parliament President Martin Schulz decided late on Tuesday afternoon 9 June to postpone the plenary session vote on the Parliament's recommendations on the negotiations on a free-trade agreement between the EU and the United States (TTIP), initially scheduled for Wednesday 10 June. All day on Tuesday, the outcome of the vote had hung in the balance, with the major groups still arguing over the issue of investment protection and the inclusion of the highly controversial mechanism for settling disputes between investors and states (ISDS).
More than 200 amendments and calls for split or separate votes were put down on the draft resolution by Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) that was adopted by the international trade committee on 28 May (see EUROPE 11323 and 11324). Schulz, in line with Article 175 of the Parliamentary rules of procedure and following consultations with the chair of the international trade committee, Bernd Lange, decided, therefore, to send the report back to the committee so that it can look again at the amendments and requests tabled for the plenary session. Consequently, the plenary session vote on the Lange report, scheduled for midday on Wednesday, has been has been postponed. The plenary session debate, scheduled to take place before the vote, will, however, go ahead as planned.
“The president took this decision for political reasons. The EPP and S&D Groups tried to find a compromise on ISDS but they didn't manage to come up with something that was acceptable to everyone. Sending the report back to committee will win some time. Lange wants a strong mandate”, a Community source told EUROPE on Tuesday evening.
No new date for the vote was set on Tuesday. The international trade committee could discuss the matter at its forthcoming meeting in Brussels next week. “The members will try to find a clearer form of words on dispute settlement. It can be interpreted in too many ways”, our source said.
It had appeared that consensus had been reached among the Socialists, Conservatives and Liberals on the international trade committee on Lange's draft recommendations that are to set the red lines which Commission negotiators must not go beyond if European Parliament approval is to be granted on any future TTIP.
On Tuesday, however, there was a very real risk of the draft text being voted down on Wednesday, either by the Centre-Right or by the Socialists if their respective demands on dispute settlement were not taken sufficiently into account. A new amendment tabled by the Socialists called for recourse to private arbitration in settling disputes between investors and states explicitly to be ruled out. The EPP, on the other hand, advocated retention of an ISDS mechanism, though in a revised form. (Emmanuel Hagry)