Brussels, 03/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 October, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave assurances to the French economic, social and environmental council in Paris that the EU would not sell out on its protection levels because of the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP).
“The US is slowly and silently turning its eye away from Europe to look at the Pacific. It has concluded a trade treaty fairly easily with the Asia Pacific countries. Right now we are negotiating a treaty with the US that does not have direct access to Europeans' hearts because many Europeans think that we are in the midst of selling out on European qualities and principles. This will not happen. It's not about cutting our levels of environmental protection, or our levels of social protection, or our cultural standards. Europe is not for sale. Europe is not for buying”, Juncker stated.
“But we need to know that if we do not manage to bring our views and those of the Americans closer together, in a balanced and symmetrical system, we will be the losers in the construction of tomorrow's trade world. If we want the rules and standards to be set by the US and our Asian friends, let's stay away. But if we want to keep influencing the big issues of tomorrow's world, we have to take action”, he said. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)