Strasbourg, 10/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - In the wake of Tuesday evening's postponement by Parliament President Martin Schulz of the plenary session vote on the European Parliament's draft recommendations on talks on an EU-United States free-trade agreement (TTIP), MEPs voted by 183 to 181, with 37 abstentions on Wednesday 10 June also to postpone the debate that was scheduled to precede the vote.
Parliament will thus have more time to try to find a broad and stable majority on this trade deal which is causing considerable concern in civil society. MEPs also face the delicate task of agreeing a common position on a topic that is far from simple: the treatment to be accorded to investment protection and the inclusion of the highly controversial mechanism for settling disputes between investors and states (ISDS).
“I requested this (postponement) to defend and advance the position of the European Parliament as a whole on a crucial issue. The Commission is negotiating an agreement of global importance with the United States. The European Parliament needs to contribute with a clear and unequivocal position. What we should have is a strong text by the European Parliament and what we should avoid is that Parliament adopts a resolution which is neither here or there, or, even worse, is not able to adopt a resolution”, commented Schulz on Wednesday. “By failing to adopt a strong text on this dossier, the European Parliament would weaken its power on one of its key, hard-fought prerogatives”, he added. He decided, therefore, to give the international trade committee an “additional opportunity” to come up with a fresh compromise in the next few weeks.
There was still no indication on Wednesday of when the re-assessment, then the new votes, firstly in the international trade committee then in plenary session, would take place. The committee is likely to discuss the matter at its next meeting on 15-16 June. On Tuesday evening, rapporteur Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) promised to use the additional time to find a stable majority for the recommendations on TTIP. Parliament, he insisted, needs its resolution to be supported by a large majority if it is to deliver a strong message to TTIP negotiators. A Community source close to the matter revealed to EUROPE that the international trade committee would try to come to a clearer form of words on dispute settlement as too many interpretations are possible at the moment.
On Tuesday, the threat was very great that either the Centre-Right or the Socialists might vote against Lange's draft resolution if they felt their respective demands on dispute settlement had not been taken into account. A late amendment put down by the Socialists called for all recourse to private arbitration in settling disputes between investors and states be explicitly ruled out. The EPP and the ALDE Groups supported the inclusion of an ISDS mechanism - though reformed - in TTIP.
Following the decision by Schulz, the major groups accused one another on Tuesday and Wednesday of being responsible for the postponement of the vote. At a press briefing on Wednesday, S&D Group leader Gianni Pittella again made clear that “the whole of the S&D Group is against ISDS”. “We will continue to talk to all political groups to rally support for a TTIP without ISDS. It is up to the Conservatives to take responsibility and decide whether they want a resolution or not. With regard to the amendment, I restate that we needed this clarification in the text to ensure it cannot be misinterpreted”, Lange stated. (Emmanuel Hagry)