Brussels, 08/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is trying to pursue “a balanced approach overall” in the agricultural section of the free trade negotiations between the EU and USA (TTIP), even if this is a difficult task - especially for dairy products.
This is the reply made by DG Trade's Director General, Jean-Luc Demarty, in a letter of 22 December 2015 to EU agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca). Copa-Cogeca had expressed its concerns to European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström in September as regards the way the TTIP talks were developing. Copa-Cogeca believed that emphasis was being put on tariff liberalisation to the detriment particularly of sanitary measures and geographical indications (GIs).
“We pursue a balanced approach overall, while for individual products some areas necessarily move faster than others. The dairy sector is perhaps the best example where the EU faces strong headwinds in all areas, including tariffs, regulatory (sanitary and phytosanitary - SPS) issues and protection of GIs”, Demarty states. “It is also an example where progress has so far been uneven, with SPS discussions being more mature and delivering progress clearly ahead of commitments on tariff dismantling and protection of EU cheese GIs”, he adds.
Nevertheless, in some sectors, such as meats, “the commitments by the USA on dismantling its tariffs have outpaced progress in other areas”, Demarty continues, giving assurances that “satisfactory protection” of the EU's GIs and work on SPS measures are “a high priority” for the EU in these negotiations.
The TTIP negotiations entered a more political phase at the 11th session of talks in Miami in October, where the parties exchanged their revised tariff offers (see EUROPE 11417).
A progress report on this 11th session of talks is available online at: http://goo.gl/YSm4zL . (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)